Banco Santander said it was all about the money. But a Financial News investigation has found the Spanish bank’s unprecedented decision to cut ties with CEO-in-waiting Andrea Orcel before he had even begun was the result of a stunning error of judgement from executive chair Ana Botin.

Santander shocked the industry on Tuesday, announcing it would not proceed with the hiring of Orcel, a high-profile dealmaker it had poached from his role as head of UBS investment bank. Orcel, on gardening leave since the appointment was announced in September, has been left in a sort of limbo, out of his old job and with no new role to go to. Santander said it will revert to the man Orcel had displaced as CEO, José Antonio Álvarez.