Banco Santander facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Banco Santander S.A.

The façade of Banco Santander headquarters in Santander, Spain.
Type	Sociedad Anónima
Traded as	BMAD: SAN NYSE: SAN BMV: SAN WSE: SAN LSE: BNC
ISIN	ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=ES0113900J37 ES0113900J37]
Industry	Financial services
Founded	15 May 1857; 168 years ago (1857-05-15)
Headquarters	Santander (legal headquarters) and Boadilla del Monte, Community of Madrid (operating headquarters) , Spain
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ana Patricia Botín (Group Executive chairman) José Antonio Álvarez (Vice chairman) Héctor Grisi Checa (CEO)
Products	Retail, corporate, investment and private banking, insurance, asset management, private equity
Revenue	€57.423 billion (2023)
Net income	€11.08 billion (2023)
AUM	€460.3 billion (2023)
Total assets	€1.797 trillion (2023)
Total equity	€104.2 billion (2023)
Number of employees	212,764 (2023)

Banco Santander S.A. is a big Spanish company that offers financial services, like banking. It's often called Santander Group. Its main offices are in Madrid and Santander, Spain.

Santander is one of the largest banks in the world. It has offices in major financial cities globally. While it's well-known in Europe, it also operates a lot in North and South America, and more recently in Asia. It's considered a very important bank for the world's financial system.

Many smaller banks, like Abbey National, have changed their names to Santander after being bought by the group. Santander is also a part of a big stock market index called Euro Stoxx 50. In 2023, Forbes magazine ranked Santander as the 49th largest public company in the world. It is also the biggest bank in Spain.

The current head of Banco Santander is Ana Patricia Botín-Sanz de Sautuola O'Shea. Her father and grandfather were also chairmen of the bank before her. Since 2014, the European Central Bank directly supervises Santander because it's such a large and important financial institution.

History of Santander Bank

Banco Santander started way back in 1857. Over the years, it grew by joining with other banks. In 1999, it merged with Banco Central Hispano (BCH). BCH itself was formed from two other banks, Banco Central and Banco Hispanoamericano, in 1991. For a while, the combined bank was called Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH).

In 2007, the bank officially changed its name back to Banco Santander S.A.

Santander has expanded a lot by buying other banks around the world:

• In 2004, it bought Abbey National in the UK. This was a big step for Santander in the British market.
• In 2006, it bought a large part of Sovereign Bank in the United States.
• In 2007, Santander joined with other banks to buy ABN AMRO, a large bank. As part of this deal, Santander gained banks in Brazil (Banco Real) and Italy (Banca Antonveneta).
• In 2008, Santander continued to grow in the UK by buying Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley. These banks later became part of Santander UK.
• Also in 2008, Santander bought the rest of Sovereign Bancorp in the US, making it its first retail bank there. Sovereign Bank was later renamed Santander Bank in 2013.

"Ciudad Financiera de Boadilla", headquarters in Madrid, Spain.

"Banco Santander Building" at 53rd Street, New York, formerly the bank's US headquarters

• In 2010, Santander bought Bank Zachodni WBK in Poland.
• In 2012, it bought Kredyt Bank, also in Poland. Santander then combined Bank Zachodni WBK and Kredyt Bank to create Poland's third-largest bank.
• In December 2012, Banco Santander took full ownership of Banesto and Banco BANIF, which were already part of the Santander Group.
• In 2013, Santander bought a majority stake in Financiera El Corte Inglés, a consumer finance business in Spain. It also invested in HSBC's Bank of Shanghai to grow in Asia.
• In 2014, Santander bought GE Money Bank's consumer finance business in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
• In 2017, Banco Santander bought Banco Popular Español for a small price.
• In 2018, the bank announced plans to grow even more in Latin America, especially in Brazil and Mexico.
• By 2019, the Banco Popular brand was fully integrated into Santander.
• In 2021, Santander was recognized as one of Europe's biggest banks.
• In 2024, Banco Santander announced a plan to buy back some of its own shares and increase its dividend payments to shareholders.

Financial Data

This table shows how much money Banco Santander has made and how big it has become over the years.

Where Santander Operates

A branch of Santander in Berlin, Germany

A branch of Santander in Cardiff, Wales

A branch of Santander in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Santander Tower in Dallas, Texas

The Santander Group has operations all over the world. This includes Europe, South America, North America, and Asia. As of 2013, it had over 186,000 employees and more than 14,000 branches. It served over 100 million customers.

Most of Santander's business comes from Retail banking, which means banking services for everyday people. This part of the business makes up about 74% of the group's profit. In 2023, the countries where Santander made the most money were Brazil, Spain, the US, the UK, Mexico, Poland, Chile, and Portugal.

In 2010, Santander announced a big investment in Brazil. They planned to build a technology center there. This center would help support their banking operations across North, Central, and South America.

In 2013, two investment firms bought a 50% share in Santander Asset Management. This is the part of Santander that manages investments for others.

Santander also expanded into China in 2010. They focused on helping with trade finance. In 2011, they started a joint company with China Construction Bank.

Santander in Europe

Santander in the Americas

Santander in Asia and Australia

Santander in Africa

• Attijariwafa Bank (Santander owns a small part of this bank)

Sponsorships

The Ferrari F1-75, a Santander-sponsored F1 car

Santander has sponsored many sports events and teams.

• From 2016 to 2021, Santander was the main sponsor of La Liga, the top Spanish football league. It was known as La Liga Santander.
• Santander also sponsored the UEFA Champions League for two years, from 2018 to 2021.
• Since 2008, Santander has sponsored the Copa Libertadores. This is the main club football competition in South America.
• In Formula One racing, Santander sponsored the Ferrari and McLaren teams from 2007 to 2017. They returned to sponsor Ferrari again starting in 2022.

In March 2020, Santander Group and La Liga organized the first-ever LaligaSantander Fest. This was a global online concert to raise money to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

See also

In Spanish: Banco Santander para niños

• Inter-Alpha Group of Banks
• List of banking institutions of Europe
• List of banks in Spain