Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN): Analyse de Pestle [Jan-2025 Mise à jour]

Dans le monde dynamique de la banque mondiale, Banco Santander, S.A., navigue dans un paysage complexe de défis et d'opportunités qui s'étendent sur les continents et défient les paradigmes financiers traditionnels. Des tensions géopolitiques aux perturbations technologiques, cette analyse complète du pilon dévoile les facteurs externes complexes qui façonnent l'une des institutions bancaires les plus importantes d'Europe. Préparez-vous à plonger profondément dans une exploration multiforme qui révèle comment Santander réagit stratégiquement aux pressions politiques, économiques, sociologiques, technologiques, juridiques et environnementales dans un écosystème financier mondial de plus en plus interconnecté.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Analyse du pilon: facteurs politiques

Tensions géopolitiques complexes affectant les opérations bancaires

Santander opère dans 10 marchés clés avec des défis géopolitiques importants, notamment l'Espagne, le Brésil, le Mexique et le Royaume-Uni. Les tensions politiques ont directement eu un impact sur les opérations bancaires dans ces régions.

Pays	Indice des risques politiques (2024)	Impact bancaire potentiel
Brésil	5.2/10	Incertitude réglementaire élevée
Mexique	4.8/10	Contraintes opérationnelles modérées
Royaume-Uni	7.5/10	Ajustements réglementaires post-Brexit

Pressions réglementaires de la directive bancaire de l'UE

Exigences clés de la conformité réglementaire de l'UE pour Santander en 2024:

• Coûts de mise en œuvre de Bâle III: 1,2 milliard d'euros
• Entretien des ratios d'adéquation des capitaux: 13,5%
• Investissements obligatoires de sécurité bancaire numérique: 450 millions d'euros

Instabilité politique sur les marchés latino-américains

Le portefeuille latino-américain de Santander fait face à une volatilité politique importante, en particulier au Brésil et en Argentine.

Pays	Indice de stabilité politique	Part de marché de Santander
Brésil	4.3/10	18.5%
Argentine	3.7/10	12.3%
Mexique	5.1/10	15.7%

Examen du secteur financier gouvernemental

Une surveillance réglementaire accrue sur tous les marchés nécessite des investissements substantiels de conformité.

• Extension du Département de la conformité: augmentation de 22% du personnel
• Investissement annuel de technologie de conformité: 320 millions d'euros
• Budget d'atténuation des risques amende réglementaire: 175 millions d'euros

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Analyse du pilon: facteurs économiques

Environnement de taux d'intérêt volatil

Depuis le quatrième trimestre 2023, Banco Santander a fait face à un environnement de taux d'intérêt avec les mesures clés suivantes:

Région	Taux d'intérêt	Changement par rapport au trimestre précédent
Zone euro	4.50%	+0.25%
Brésil	11.25%	-0.50%
Royaume-Uni	5.25%	+0.25%

Ralentissement économique sur les marchés clés

Performance économique sur les marchés principaux:

Pays	Croissance du PIB 2023	Croissance du PIB projetée 2024
Espagne	2.4%	1.6%
Brésil	3.1%	1.9%
Royaume-Uni	0.6%	0.8%

Pressions inflationnistes

Taux d'inflation sur les principaux marchés:

Pays	Taux d'inflation 2023	Inflation centrale
Espagne	3.1%	2.9%
Brésil	4.6%	4.2%
Royaume-Uni	4.0%	5.1%

Risques de récession économique

L'exposition financière de Banco Santander à la récession potentielle:

Métrique	Montant (€ millions)
Portefeuille de prêts totaux	1,023,456
Ratio de prêts non performants	3.2%
Dispositions de perte de prêt	12,345

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Analyse du pilon: facteurs sociaux

Changer les préférences des consommateurs vers les services bancaires numériques et les services financiers mobiles

En 2024, Banco Santander 52,4 millions de clients numériques à travers ses opérations mondiales. Les transactions bancaires mobiles ont augmenté de 37.2% par rapport à l'année précédente. Les plateformes numériques de la banque traitées approximativement 1,2 milliard de transactions en 2023.

Métrique bancaire numérique	2024 statistiques
Clients numériques	52,4 millions
Croissance des transactions mobiles	37.2%
Total des transactions numériques	1,2 milliard

Population vieillissante sur les principaux marchés européens affectant la conception de produits financiers

En Espagne, le marché domestique de Santander, la population de plus de 65 ans a atteint 19.8% en 2024. La banque a développé 37 produits financiers spécialisés ciblant les personnes âgées, avec l'investissement total de 214 millions d'euros dans la retraite et les solutions financières spécifiques à l'âge.

Métrique démographique	2024 données
Population de plus de 65 ans en Espagne	19.8%
Produits financiers axés sur les personnes âgées	37 produits
Investissement dans des solutions financières supérieures	214 millions d'euros

Demande croissante de pratiques bancaires durables et socialement responsables

Santander s'est engagé 120 milliards d'euros à la finance durable d'ici 2025. En 2024, 42,7 milliards d'euros a déjà été alloué aux projets d'impact vert et social. 68% des investisseurs institutionnels ont préféré les produits financiers évalués par Santander ESG.

Métrique de la durabilité	2024 statistiques
Engagement total de financement durable	120 milliards d'euros
Attribution actuelle du projet vert / social	42,7 milliards d'euros
Investisseurs institutionnels Préférence ESG	68%

Augmentation des attentes des clients pour des expériences financières personnalisées

Santander a mis en œuvre Personnalisation dirigée par l'IA sur ses plateformes, ce qui a entraîné 43% Amélioration de la satisfaction du client. 276 millions d'euros a été investi dans des solutions de technologie financière personnalisées. 64% des clients ont utilisé des recommandations financières personnalisées.

Métrique de personnalisation	2024 données
Amélioration de la satisfaction du client	43%
Investissement dans la technologie de personnalisation	276 millions d'euros
Les clients utilisant des recommandations personnalisées	64%

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Analyse du pilon: facteurs technologiques

Investissements importants dans la transformation numérique et les solutions bancaires axées sur l'IA

Banco Santander a investi 4,3 milliards d'euros dans la transformation numérique en 2023. La banque a déployé 4 500 solutions d'IA dans ses opérations mondiales, en mettant l'accent sur le service client et l'efficacité opérationnelle.

Catégorie d'investissement numérique	Montant d'investissement (€)	Pourcentage du budget technologique total
Technologies d'IA	1,2 milliard	28%
Plateformes bancaires numériques	1,5 milliard	35%
Infrastructure de cybersécurité	850 millions	20%
Cloud computing	750 millions	17%

Défis de cybersécurité dans la protection des données financières des clients et des infrastructures numériques

Santander a détecté et empêché 15 230 cyber-incidents en 2023, avec un investissement de 850 millions d'euros dans les technologies de cybersécurité. La Banque a mis en œuvre des systèmes de détection de menaces avancés avec une efficacité de 99,7%.

Métrique de la cybersécurité	Performance de 2023
Total des cyber-incidents	15,230
Présenté les incidents	15,200
Précision de détection des menaces	99.7%
Taux de prévention des violations de données	100%

Mise en œuvre des technologies de blockchain et d'apprentissage automatique dans les services financiers

Santander a lancé 37 services financiers basés sur la blockchain en 2023, avec des algorithmes d'apprentissage automatique traduisant quotidiennement des transactions clients.

Technologie	Échelle de déploiement	Traitement des transactions
Services de blockchain	37 plates-formes actives	540 000 transactions / semaine
Applications d'apprentissage automatique	126 cas d'utilisation distincts	2,3 millions de transactions / jour

Expansion des plates-formes bancaires numériques pour rivaliser avec les challengers fintech

La plate-forme bancaire numérique de Santander, One Pay FX, a traité 12,4 milliards d'euros en transactions transfrontalières en 2023, avec 3,7 millions d'utilisateurs de banque numérique actifs sur ses marchés mondiaux.

Métrique bancaire numérique	Performance de 2023
Utilisateurs de banque numérique active	3,7 millions
Volume de transaction transfrontalière	12,4 milliards d'euros
Téléchargements d'applications bancaires mobiles	1,2 million

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Analyse du pilon: facteurs juridiques

Exigences strictes de conformité réglementaire dans plusieurs juridictions internationales

Banco Santander opère sur 10 marchés primaires avec des environnements réglementaires distincts, nécessitant des stratégies de conformité juridique complètes.

Pays	Organismes de réglementation	Coût de conformité (2023)
Espagne	Banque d'Espagne	187,3 millions d'euros
Royaume-Uni	Autorité de conduite financière	142,6 millions de livres sterling
Brésil	Banque centrale du Brésil	423,7 millions de R
États-Unis	Réserve fédérale	215,4 millions de dollars

Défices juridiques en cours liés aux pratiques financières et à la protection des consommateurs

Statistiques des procédures judiciaires pour Santander (2023):

• Cas juridiques actifs totaux: 247
• Dispositions juridiques totales estimées: 1,2 milliard d'euros
• Réclamations de protection des consommateurs: 89 cas
• Cas d'enquête réglementaire: 53 cas

Accroître les obligations de rapports et de transparence des régulateurs financiers

Exigence de rapport	Fréquence	Coût de conformité
Rapports de Bâle III	Trimestriel	76,5 millions d'euros
Rapports anti-blanchiment	Mensuel	43,2 millions d'euros
Divulgations de la gestion des risques	Semestriel	32,7 millions d'euros

Cadres juridiques transfrontaliers complexes affectant les opérations bancaires internationales

Mesures de conformité réglementaire transfrontalières:

• Juridictions transfrontalières totales: 14
• Cadres réglementaires uniques gérés: 22
• Dépenses annuelles de conformité juridique transfrontalières: 412,6 millions d'euros
• Personnel juridique et conformité dédié: 1 347 professionnels

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Analyse du pilon: facteurs environnementaux

Engagement envers la finance durable et les stratégies d'investissement vert

Banco Santander a commis 120 milliards d'euros en financement et investissements durables d'ici 2025. Le portefeuille de financement vert de la banque a atteint 43,8 milliards d'euros en 2023, ce qui représente une augmentation de 32% par rapport à l'année précédente.

Métrique financière durable	Valeur 2023	Année cible
Engagement total de financement durable	120 milliards d'euros	2025
Portefeuille de financement vert	43,8 milliards d'euros	2023
Croissance en glissement annuel	32%	2022-2023

Réduire l'empreinte carbone entre les opérations bancaires et les portefeuilles d'investissement

Santander vise à réduire les émissions opérationnelles de carbone de 70% d'ici 2025, avec des émissions actuelles à 298 000 tonnes métriques de CO2 équivalentes en 2023.

Métrique d'émission de carbone	Valeur 2023	Cible	Année cible
Émissions de carbone actuelles	298 000 tonnes métriques CO2E	Réduction de 70%	2025

Soutenir les projets d'énergie renouvelable à travers des produits financiers spécialisés

Santander a fourni 12,5 milliards d'euros de financement du projet d'énergie renouvelable en 2023, avec des allocations spécifiques dans les secteurs solaires, éoliens et hydroélectriques.

Secteur des énergies renouvelables	Montant de financement (milliards d'euros)
Énergie solaire	5.7
Énergie éolienne	4.3
Hydro-électrique	2.5
Financement total des énergies renouvelables	12.5

Mise en œuvre des critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) dans les décisions d'investissement

En 2023, 78% du portefeuille d'investissement de Santander a incorporé les critères ESG, avec 215 milliards d'euros d'actifs écourtés ESG.

Métrique d'investissement ESG	Valeur 2023
Portefeuille avec des critères ESG	78%
Actifs à écran	215 milliards d'euros

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - PESTLE Analysis: Social factors

Digital Adoption: 52.4 million digital customers, driving a shift from branch services.

The core social shift for Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) is the rapid move to digital banking, which fundamentally changes how customers interact with the bank. The bank's total customer base is substantial, reaching approximately 178 million as of the first nine months of 2025 (9M'25). The strategy is clear: become a digital bank with branches, not the other way around. This means the bank's long-term profitability hinges on strengthening those digital relationships, not just maintaining physical ones. Honestly, the branch is now a service center, not the primary touchpoint.

This digital focus is paying off in usage. The volume of transactions per active customer rose by a solid 6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025), showing real engagement with the digital platforms. Openbank, the group's digital-only unit, is a key growth engine. In the US, a critical market, Openbank is on track to become a full-service digital bank by the end of 2025, following a successful launch that saw it gain over 100,000 customers in its first six months.

• Total customers: approx. 178 million (9M'25).
• Transaction volume per customer: up 6% (Q1 2025).
• US digital unit Openbank: on track for full-service by late 2025.

Aging populations in Europe, like Spain where over 19.8% of the population is over 65.

While the digital push is vital for future growth, the demographic reality in key European markets, especially the bank's home country, Spain, presents a unique social challenge. The population aged 65 and over in Spain stood at approximately 20.40% in late 2024, and this figure is only set to grow, with long-term forecasts predicting it will exceed 30% by 2055. This aging cohort often prefers, or requires, traditional in-branch service and can struggle with the rapid pace of digitalization. That's a significant portion of the customer base you simply can't ignore.

To mitigate the risk of financial exclusion (when people can't access essential financial services), Santander has taken concrete actions. They have extended branch opening hours and, importantly, created a dedicated 'senior ambassador' role in each branch. This is a smart, empathetic move that provides personalized assistance to the elderly, helping them with complex banking tasks and digital procedures without forcing a complete digital adoption. What this estimate hides is the true cost of maintaining a physical network for a shrinking, but high-value, segment.

Region/Demographic	Metric	Value (2024/2025)
Spain	Population Aged 65+	approx. 20.4%
Spain	Projected Population Aged 65+	30.5% by 2055
Santander Action	Support for Elderly	Dedicated 'senior ambassador' role in branches

Strong consumer demand for sustainable and socially responsible banking products.

Consumer and investor appetite for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria is defintely not a trend anymore; it's a mandate. Customers, particularly younger generations, are demanding that their bank acts as a responsible corporate citizen. Santander has responded by integrating sustainability deeply into its product offering and strategy, which is why the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) ranked it as the most sustainable bank in the world.

The bank has already surpassed its near-term green financing goals. They achieved their target of mobilising €120 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2025 a full 18 months ahead of schedule. Here's the quick math: they hit the 2025 target in mid-2023. So, they've already raised the bar, setting a new, ambitious goal to mobilize €220 billion in green financing by 2030. This commitment translates directly into consumer-facing products, including discounted sustainable loans for individuals and a range of ESG-focused investment funds.

Focus on financial inclusion and community support through Education, Employability, and Entrepreneurship.

Social license to operate is earned through action, and Santander focuses its community support on three pillars: Education, Employability, and Entrepreneurship. This is a crucial part of their Responsible Banking strategy. They set an original target to financially empower 10 million people by 2025, but they blew past that, empowering 11.8 million people since 2019. The new, raised goal is to financially empower 15 million people by 2025.

The financial commitment to these social pillars is substantial. In 2024, the bank deployed €166 million in community support, directly benefiting five million people across its markets. A significant portion, €104 million of that total, was invested specifically in the three core areas: education, employability, and entrepreneurship. Through the Santander X initiative, they also provided non-financial support to 52,570 businesses and entrepreneurial projects in 2024 alone. This isn't just charity; it builds future customers and stronger local economies.

• New Financial Inclusion Target: 15 million people by 2025.
• Total Community Investment (2024): €166 million.
• Investment in Education, Employability, Entrepreneurship (2024): €104 million.
• Businesses supported via Santander X (2024): 52,570.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - PESTLE Analysis: Technological factors

You're looking at a bank that's making a massive, expensive bet on being a true digital-native company, and that's both the biggest opportunity and the biggest near-term risk. Banco Santander, S.A. is now one of the first major established banks to move its core systems to the cloud, but that move creates a larger attack surface for sophisticated cyber threats.

The core of the technology strategy is the Gravity platform, a proprietary cloud-based system designed to simplify the bank's sprawling global architecture. This shift is already delivering tangible efficiency gains and is setting the stage for a new level of customer experience and product agility. Here's the quick math: technology is moving from a cost center to a core competitive advantage, but it demands a constant, high-level investment in defense.

Cloud Migration: Completed migration of core infrastructure in Spain to its Gravity platform in June 2025

The migration of the entire core banking system in Spain to the Gravity platform was completed in June 2025, a decisive step. This makes Santander the first major established bank in the Western world to operate its core system 100% in the cloud, which is a big deal for speed and security. Moving the core banking system-where primary transactions like transfers and loans are processed-from legacy mainframes to a modern, cloud-native architecture shortens the time to launch new functionalities from weeks to mere hours.

This deployment is not stopping in Spain. The bank is actively rolling out Gravity in other major markets, including Brazil and Mexico. Once these key rollouts are complete, the Group expects to have migrated around 80% of its core technology infrastructure to cloud-based systems globally. When fully operational across the Group, the Gravity platform is projected to process over one trillion technical operations annually.

Operational Efficiency: Project Gravity helped reduce the efficiency ratio to 35.9% in Q3 2025 in its Chilean unit

The financial impact of this technological transformation is most clearly visible in operational efficiency (the cost-to-income ratio). In the Chilean unit, where Gravity is already deployed, the efficiency ratio reached a sector-leading 35.9% as of September 30, 2025 (Q3 2025). This is a significant improvement from the 40.0% recorded in the same period last year, showing that the platform is defintely reducing structural costs. For the overall Group, the efficiency ratio stood at 39.2% in Q3 2025, reflecting the continued benefits of the digital transformation across its global businesses.

The shift to a simpler, more integrated model is also driving productivity across the workforce. For example, over 6,000 of the bank's developers are now using AI tools, which has boosted their productivity by up to 30% on certain tasks.

AI Deployment: Uses advanced AI solutions globally for customer service and fraud detection

Santander is rapidly evolving into what it calls an AI-native bank, moving beyond traditional machine learning to deploy generative AI (GenAI) at scale. The bank has rolled out OpenAI's ChatGPT Enterprise to nearly 15,000 employees across Europe and the Americas and plans to double this coverage to 30,000 staff by the end of 2025. This is one of the most extensive GenAI deployments in global banking.

The financial returns from these AI initiatives are already clear:

• AI initiatives generated over €200 million in cost savings in 2024.
• AI tools now assist in more than 40% of contact-center interactions.
• Speech analytics in Spain processes 10 million calls annually, freeing up over 100,000 staff hours.

This table shows the measurable impact of the AI and digital transformation efforts as of Q3 2025:

Metric	Value (Q3 2025 / YTD 2025)	Context / Impact
Santander Chile Efficiency Ratio	35.9%	Best in Chilean industry; driven by digital transformation.
Group Efficiency Ratio	39.2%	Reflects overall cost management gains from transformation.
AI-Assisted Contact Centre Interactions	Over 40%	Shows scale of AI in customer service.
Planned ChatGPT Enterprise Users	30,000 (by end of 2025)	Represents 15% of the total workforce using GenAI.
Developer Productivity Gain (via AI)	Up to 30%	Accelerates time-to-market for new digital products.

Increased vulnerability to sophisticated cyberattacks and data breaches due to a growing digital footprint

The move to the cloud and the expansion of digital services, while boosting efficiency, inherently increases the bank's attack surface. This is the trade-off. A major data breach was announced in May 2024, where an unauthorized actor accessed a database hosted by a third-party provider, affecting customers and employees in Spain, Chile, and Uruguay. The bank's reliance on third-party vendors for parts of its infrastructure introduces a critical point of failure that is harder to control.

More recently, in November 2025, there were reports of an alleged sale of Banco Santander customer data on a cybercrime forum. The data purportedly included sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and financial details like IBANs, which significantly raises the risk of sophisticated financial fraud and identity theft for affected individuals. The bank has to constantly focus on risks associated with technology and cyberrisk, as noted in its Q3 2025 financial report. The bank is proactively engaging in global efforts like the Quantum Safe Financial Forum (QSSF) to prepare for future threats like post-quantum cryptography, but the immediate threat is from current, sophisticated social engineering and third-party vendor attacks.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - PESTLE Analysis: Legal factors

You need to understand that for a global bank like Banco Santander, the legal landscape isn't just a cost center; it's a fundamental risk to the business model, especially with new regulations hitting the books in the 2025 fiscal year. We're talking about navigating a fragmented, multi-jurisdictional maze where a misstep in one country can trigger a domino effect across the Group. The core takeaway is that compliance spending is now a permanent, non-negotiable capital expenditure, and the regulatory environment is actively shifting to accommodate, or in some cases, prohibit, new digital asset classes.

Must navigate complex, multi-jurisdictional compliance for AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (Know Your Customer)

Operating across 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas means Banco Santander faces a constant battle to standardize its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance. This is an enormous operational cost, and even with robust internal controls, regulatory scrutiny is intense. For example, in a September 2025 action, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined Banco Santander, S.A. and its subsidiary Santander US Capital Markets LLC a total of $500,000. Here's the quick math: that fine wasn't for market manipulation, but for simple record-keeping failures related to employees using unapproved communication methods like personal text messages for business. This shows how granular and unforgiving the supervisory focus is right now. You simply cannot afford to have compliance be a secondary thought.

Strict data governance requirements imposed by the EU's GDPR and similar global laws

Data governance, especially around the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is a major, ongoing legal risk. As a Spanish-headquartered bank, the GDPR is the baseline for all European operations, but similar privacy laws are emerging in other key markets like Brazil and the US. While Banco Santander has a corporate data protection policy and a designated Data Protection Officer, even minor errors lead to public penalties. To be fair, the fines can be small for a bank of this size, but the reputational damage is the real risk. In 2024, the Spanish Data Protection Agency fined the bank €42,000 for a GDPR violation involving the mistaken sharing of a mortgage-backed loan amortization schedule with a third party. This is defintely a risk of human error that technology needs to solve.

Regulatory Cost: Basel III implementation costs were estimated at €1.2 billion

The finalization of the Basel III framework, often called Basel IV, is the single largest regulatory capital event of 2025. The European Union's Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR3) and Capital Requirements Directive (CRD6) came into force on January 1, 2025, fundamentally changing how banks calculate risk-weighted assets (RWAs) and capital floors. The initial push for the massive operational overhaul required to meet these new standards was tied to a strategic plan to realize €1.2 billion in annual cost cuts through digitalization and simplification, which is a direct response to the pressure of higher regulatory capital and operational costs. The new rules translate to hard capital requirements you must meet.

Here's a look at the key 2025 capital requirements set by the European Central Bank (ECB) following the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP):

Capital Requirement Metric	Requirement Effective Jan 1, 2025	Change from Jan 1, 2024
Minimum CET1 Requirement	9.67%	+7 basis points
Total Capital Requirement	13.93%	+7 basis points
Pillar 2 Requirement (P2R)	1.74%	Maintained

US regulators are pushing back on certain Basel risk weights to foster digital asset competition

The global regulatory landscape for digital assets is fragmenting, which creates both risk and opportunity for a multinational bank. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) proposed a punitive 1,250% risk weight for unbacked crypto assets on permissionless-blockchains, which would make bank participation in the digital asset market economically impractical. However, US regulators are actively pushing back on this. The US Federal Reserve has publicly stated that it will not implement these specific Basel risk weights, aiming instead to foster digital asset competition and innovation among regulated US financial institutions. This is a critical divergence, allowing Banco Santander's US operations, whose Intermediate Holding Company (SHUSA) is designated as a Category IV financial institution (the lowest risk non-systemic tier), to pursue digital asset strategies with a less stringent capital burden than its European parent entity must contend with.

The current regulatory posture creates a unique competitive dynamic:

• US regulators reject the 1,250% Basel risk weight.
• Global stablecoin market is approaching $300 billion.
• Banco Santander must manage two distinct digital asset regulatory regimes.

Finance: Draft a memo by end-of-week comparing the capital impact of a 1% Bitcoin holding under the 1,250% Basel weight versus US-specific rules.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - PESTLE Analysis: Environmental factors

Net-Zero Commitment: Target of becoming a zero-carbon group by 2050

You need to know that Banco Santander, S.A. is defintely pushing hard on its long-term climate goals, but the real work is in the financed emissions (Scope 3), not just their own operations. The bank's ambition is to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across the entire group by 2050, aligning with the Paris Agreement goals. This commitment covers their own operations, which are already carbon neutral, and more importantly, all client emissions that result from their lending, advisory, or investment services.

Here's the quick math: achieving net-zero by 2050 means a massive, ongoing portfolio shift over the next 25 years. The bank's 2025 focus is on setting sector-specific decarbonization targets, like those already disclosed for the power generation, oil & gas, steel, and automotive sectors.

What this estimate hides: The bank is a founding member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), but the actual decarbonization trajectory is complex, requiring engagement with a diverse, global client base that is at different stages of the energy transition.

Green Finance Target: Achieved the €120 billion goal for raising or facilitating green finance early

The bank hit its near-term green finance target well ahead of schedule, which is a significant positive signal for their execution capability. The original goal was to raise or facilitate €120 billion in green finance between 2019 and the end of 2025. They achieved this milestone 18 months early.

As of December 2024, the total amount raised and mobilized globally in green finance by the Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division alone reached €139.4 billion. This early success led to an immediate increase in ambition, so the new benchmark is now set much higher.

The new, forward-looking target is to raise or facilitate €220 billion in green finance by 2030. This capital is crucial for financing the expansion of renewable energy capacity, which the International Energy Agency estimates needs to triple globally to meet Paris objectives.

Metric	Target/Achievement (2025 Fiscal Year Data)	New Target
Original Green Finance Goal (2019-2025)	Achieved €120 billion (18 months early)	N/A
Total Green Finance Mobilized (2019-Dec 2024)	€139.4 billion	N/A
New Green Finance Target	N/A	€220 billion by 2030

Decarbonization: Target to phase out exposure by 2030 to power generation clients with over 10% revenue from coal

The bank's initial decarbonization targets were clear: by 2030, they would stop providing financial services to power generation clients deriving more than 10% of their revenues from thermal coal. They also committed to eliminating all exposure to thermal coal mining globally by the same date.

Still, you need to be aware of a critical policy update from July 2025. The bank amended its Environmental and Social Risk Management Policy, introducing a significant caveat.

• Original 2030 goal was a hard cut-off for clients with over 10% coal revenue.
• The July 2025 policy change now allows Banco Santander to provide sustainable finance and products to these same clients, even after 2030.
• They can also now provide general purpose finance for new clients with up to 25% of revenues from thermal coal power generation without requiring a robust plan to reduce that exposure to 10% or below by 2030.

This shift is a near-term risk for their ESG credibility (environmental, social, and governance), as it creates a loophole for continued engagement with high-carbon clients under the banner of 'transition finance.' It makes the 2030 phase-out target less absolute.

All debit, credit, and pre-paid cards in its four core European markets will be made from sustainable materials by the end of 2025.

This is a concrete, operational environmental goal that directly impacts their physical footprint. By the end of 2025, all debit, credit, and pre-paid cards issued in their four core European markets will be manufactured from sustainable materials, such as recycled PVC or corn-based plastic substitutes (PLA).

The four core European markets driving this change are:

• Spain
• Portugal
• Poland
• The UK

The bank has over 30 million payment cards in the Europe region. Completing this rollout is expected to save more than 1,000 tonnes of CO2 every year, which is roughly equivalent to the annual energy consumption of nearly 1,000 households. Plus, it will reduce plastic usage by 60 tons annually.

This is a small but tangible win for reducing their operational carbon footprint.