Esteban Sánchez Pajares

PhD in Business Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2017), DBA in Management and Technology from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas-ICADE (2025), Master’s Degree in Financial Markets from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (1990), and Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Business from the same university, specialising in Accounting (1989) and in Finance (1990). A certified economist in Madrid, member of the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration (AECA), member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Risk Management Club, and member of the Fintech Commission of the Madrid Association of Economists, he has over 35 years of experience in banking management, both as a banking executive and as a consultant on projects for credit institutions.

He has recently completed several training programmes on disruptive business models at MIT Sloan School of Management (2024, 2022 and 2020), on the construction and control of credit risk models (2023), sustainable finance (2019), and digital transformation (2018), all at Afi Global Education, as well as on the origins and impacts of the global financial crisis at Wharton Executive Education, University of Pennsylvania (2011).

Partner at Afi since 2002 and member of its Executive Committee since 2015, he is currently Director of the Banking Area. His professional career at Afi has focused on consultancy in the areas of i) strategy and transformation, ii) finance and risk, iii) regulatory implementation, iv) credit risk models, v) asset and liability management, and vi) transactions. He was also heavily involved in the restructuring process of the Spanish banking sector following the Global Financial Crisis. Additionally, he has extensive international experience through projects with private companies and IFIs such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Before joining Afi in 2000, he led the Planning and Management Control Area at Barclays Bank, SAU in Spain for seven years (1993–2000). Prior to that, he worked at Arthur Andersen (now Deloitte) in the consultancy and auditing area for credit institutions (1990–1993). During his undergraduate studies, he combined university with work in accounting and tax consultancy at the Madrid-based law firm ASCONFIL (1987–1990).

He is a board member of Afi Global Education, sits on its Academic Committee, co-directs the Master’s in Finance, and is academic director of several professional specialisation courses in banking management at Afi Global Education.

He combines his professional and teaching activities, primarily through Afi Global Education, with research articles, books, and contributions to the press, all on banking and financial topics, as well as speaking at international conferences, including events held by the Latin American Banking Association, the Mexican Banking Association, and the Association of Supervisors of the Americas.