Santander Consumer Appoints BNY Mellon Exec as CFO

Santander Consumer USA Holdings in Dallas has named Ismail "Izzy" Dawood as chief financial officer.

Dawood, 43, joins the $36 billion-asset subprime auto lender from Bank of New York Mellon, where he served as CFO of its investment services division. Dawood will start on Dec. 16.

Before joining the $302 billion-asset BNY in 2006, Dawood held senior-level roles at Wachovia, before it was purchased by Wells Fargo in 2010.

Dawood has "broad and deep experience in financial services," Jason Kulas, Santander Consumer's chief executive, said in a Monday news release.

Dawood succeeds Jennifer Davis, who has served as interim CFO since a July leadership shake-up. Davis will stay with the company as deputy CFO.

Kulas, who was promoted as CEO as part of the shake-up, was the company's previous CFO. He joined Santander in 2007.

Dawood's appointment comes at a critical time for the company, as accounting changes have raised questions about the transparency of its loan book.

Santander Consumer said in October that it had overhauled the way it calculates its provision for credit losses. The change helped the company lower its quarterly provision—a line item that had jumped over the past year, amid an aggressive push for borrowers with blemished credit histories.

The CFO appointment also comes just weeks after Santander Consumer said it had exited personal lending. As part of that move, the company terminated an agreement with Lending Club, the nation's largest marketplace lender.

Investors have reacted skeptically. The stock has plunged by more than 30% since the changes were announced on Oct. 29.

Santander Consumer is a unit of the Spanish banking giant Banco Santander.