UPDATE 2-Santander hires Riley from Deutsche Bank to oversee North America

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Riley to join the bank on Oct.1

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Takes over at a moment when profits in region are slowing down

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Riley's moves comes amid board reshuffle at Deutsche

(Adds details on North America)

By Jesús Aguado

MADRID/FRANKFURT, April 26 (Reuters) - Spain's Santander said on Wednesday that Deutsche Bank board member Christiana Riley was joining the bank to oversee its business in North America, where profit is slowing.

Santander said that Riley would join on Oct. 1, subject to regulatory approval, and will be responsible for all its U.S. and Mexican businesses, which serve 25 million customers with some 45,000 employees and 1,900 branches.

Riley will be a member of the Spanish group's management team and report to Hector Grisi, who was the regional head for North America until he became chief executive on Jan. 1.

As part of a recently strategy update in February, Santander aims for its Corporate and Investment Banking business in North America to achieve an annual accumulated growth rate of around 15% in revenues between 2022 and 2025.

In North America, which is responsible for a fifth of Santander group's earnings, net profit fell 22% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, following record profits in 2021, after the bank had to set aside more funds to cover anticipated losses in its auto lending business.

Loans in the region increased 6% and deposits rose 9% year-on-year in the quarter.

Riley's move comes as Deutsche Bank is undertaking its biggest management shake-up since 2019. Riley has held several leadership roles over the past 17 years and was regional CEO for Deutsche's business across the Americas, based in New York.

Before that she was chief financial officer and co-CEO of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB). (Reporting by Jesús Aguado and Tom Sims; Editing by Charlie Devereux, Chris Reese and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)