Santander: 150 years of phenomenal growth
Santander welcomes Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain and the delegation of companies attending the Second China-Spain Business Forum on their visit to China.
Santander is the largest bank in the Eurozone by market capitalization, the biggest banking franchise in Latin America and seventh in the world by profit. But Santander is not only big - it is a recognized leader in innovation, customer relationships and solutions, and in its contribution to the communities in which it works.
The group's main business areas are retail and wholesale banking, and asset management and insurance. The Santander model rests on five pillars: quality service, efficiency, credit quality, disciplined use of capital, global vision and professional ethics.
Company file
Founded in 1857, Santander has 1 trillion euros ($1.33 trillion) in funds under management, 69 million customers, 10,900 branches and a presence in 40 countries. It is the largest financial group in Spain and in Latin America, and is the sixth largest bank in the United Kingdom, through its Abbey subsidiary.
Through Santander Consumer Finance, it also operates a leading consumer finance franchise in Germany, Italy, Spain and nine other European countries. Santander is present in the United States through its 24.9-percent stake in Sovereign Bancorp, and through Santander Drive, a Texas-based consumer finance company.
Santander registered 7.6 billion euros ($10.14 billion) in net attributable profits in 2006, an increase of 22 percent from 2005.
In Latin America, Santander manages more than $250 billion in business volumes (loans, deposits, mutual funds, pension funds and managed funds) through 4,370 branches with nearly 67,000 employees, making it by far the largest banking franchise in the region. Its most significant presence is in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, but it is also dominant in Argentina, Venezuela, Peru and Uruguay.
In 2006, Santander reported $2.87 billion in attributable profit in Latin America, up 29 percent from 2005.
Santander is also the world leader in trade finance (excluding aircraft), with an especially strong position in Latin America, where it has a market share of 50 percent.
Social commitment
Santander is committed to contributing to the communities around the world in which it works, investing 106 million euros ($141.4 million) in social responsibility projects in 2006.
The cornerstone of its global social responsibility commitment, accounting for 77 million euros ($102.7 million) of its investment, is the Santander Universities program, through which it offers grants, scholarships and financing to universities for research, development of their curricula and facilities, and investment in technology.
The group has agreements of cooperation with 549 universities worldwide and has granted more than 10,160 scholarships. Through the Universia portal, which Santander sponsors, the bank helps link 9.8 million students and 800,000 faculty at 985 universities in 11 countries, principally in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
In China, Santander Universities in Brazil has signed preliminary agreements with Harbin Normal University and Jiamusi University in Heilongjiang and Tsinghua University in Beijing to enable student exchange programs and improve the teaching of Portuguese to Chinese pupils.
Growth with values
Santander's recent history is one of remarkable growth. In 1986, Santander ranked around 150th among the world's banks in terms of market capitalization; by 2004, it had become one of the top 10 in the world.
This was achieved through a series of acquisitions and mergers, most notably Banesto (1994) and Central Hispano (1999) in Spain, Totta in Portugal (1999) and Banespa in Brazil (2000). In 2004, the bank concluded the major deal of purchasing Abbey of the United Kingdom, a groundbreaking deal in Europe that set the pace for other cross-border mergers.
As it turns 150 years old, Santander has made the transition from being a small local bank to a world leader. However, its core values remain the same: a commitment to leadership, dynamism and flexibility, financial strength, innovation, an aggressive commercial approach and professionalism. Maintaining those values will ensure that the group continues to lead, to grow and to contribute to the communities in which it works.
(China Daily 06/27/2007 page37)
