Brazil, where he initiated Santander’s retail activities in the country, purchasing two retail banks and merging them into Banco Santander Brasil, of which he became CEO (1997–1999) and chairman (1997–2000). From December 1997, he also became the chairman of Banco Santander Portugal. With the 1999–2000 agreement between António Champalimaud, the Santander Group and the Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the Santander Group became the owner of Banco Totta & Açores and Crédito Predial Português, adding these to Banco Santander de Negócios and Banco Santander Portugal. Following this, the Group changed its name to Banco Santander Totta. In 2000, he became chief executive of Banco Santander Totta in Portugal. He also became executive vice president of Banco Santander in Spain and a member of its management committee. He joined Abbey National as a non-executive director in November 2004. In August 2006, he moved to the UK, and became CEO of Abbey and its successor Santander UK. In 2006, he became chairman of Santander Totta in Portugal. In 2008, he led the integration into the Santander Group of the British building societies Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester. Horta-Osório was appointed as a non-executive director to the Court of the Bank of England in June 2009, relinquishing this position in February 2011, as he became CEO of Lloyds Banking Group on 1 March 2011. Horta-Osorio is currently a non-executive director of EXOR N.V., Fundação Champalimaud and Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos in Portugal, a member of the Board of Stichting INPAR. He also serves on the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) President’s Committee and is Chairman of the Wallace Collection. Lloyds Banking Group In January 2011 he joined Lloyds Banking Group as an executive director, becoming CEO on 1 March 2011. In November 2011, he went on temporary leave due to exhaustion, which the Evening Standard called the most high-profile sick leave in the City. The following month, he announced that he was ready to return to work. In January 2012, he cited the impact that his leave of absence had on the company as the reason that he did not wish to receive a bonus for 2011, and said "As chief executive, I believe my bonus entitlement should reflect the performance of the group". Under his leadership, the bank's financial performance was turned around. It returned to profitability, slimming down to focus on domestic lending and to meet tougher regulatory requirements