Banco Santander named Bank of the Year in Latin America and the UK by The Banker

* The magazine also named Santander Bank of the Year in Portugal, Argentina,Uruguay and Puerto Rico.

*“Santander was one of the leading early movers in Latin America and the region now accounts for more than 40% of the Group’s profits,” according to The Banker.


Madrid, - The magazine The Banker has named Banco Santander Bank of the Year in Latin America. The publication, which considers Santander to be “one of the leading early movers in Latin America”, highlighted that "since entering the region, the bank has relentlessly been strengthening its position in all its markets.” As a result, “Latin America already
accounts for more than 40% of Group’s profit.”

The Banker points out Santander’s leadership in markets such as Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay, “where the bank has greatly increased its profit and reduced its efficiency ratios” after purchasing in 2008 ABN Amro’s business. The magazine describes Santander Brazil’s IPO as “spectacular.”

In addition, Santander has been named Bank of the Year in the United Kingdom for a second year in a row. “The bank has continued to grow and improve its profits more than 50% against a peer-group decline in personal financial services of 67%,” the magazine said. The publication also noted that Santander UK has recently brought its separate brands (Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester) under one name, Santander.

Banco Santander was also named Bank of the Year by The Banker in Portugal, where it has received the award for the fourth time in six years, as well as in Argentina, Uruguay and Puerto Rico.

Founded in 1926, The Banker is a unit of the FT Business group of magazines and it is considered a leader in international banking and finance news. The Banker’s presitigious annual survey of the Top 1,000 banking institutions is an industry standard and its “Bank of the Year” awards are a benchmark in international banking. The award winners are selected by the editors of The Banker on the basis of objective criteria, such as profitability, growth and efficiency, as well as subjective criteria that include strategy, leadership and innovation.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with presence in 10 main markets. At the close of June 2010, Santander was the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization and, at the end of 2009, fourth in the world by profit.

Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1,365 billion in managed funds. Santander has more than 90 million customers, 13,671 branches – more than any other international bank – and 170,000 employees. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, with leading positions in the United Kingdom and Portugal and a broad presence in Europe through its Santander Consumer Finance arm. In the first half of 2010, Santander registered €4,445 million in net attributable profit.