Link Securities | At Banco Santander’s (SAN) Annual General Meeting held last Friday, Ana Botín, Santander’s Chair, noted that the strong Q1 2026 results support the full-year targets: “In Q1 2026, we have continued the positive trend of previous years, growing in terms of customer numbers and revenue, whilst costs are expected to fall year-on-year in constant euros, resulting in an improvement in efficiency of approximately 250 basis points. Consequently, we are on track to increase profit in 2026 compared to the previous year,” she said.
Furthermore, Botín highlighted that the strength of Santander’s business model allows it to reaffirm its targets for 2026–2028 despite global economic uncertainty, which include mid-single-digit revenue growth, a reduction in costs in constant euros, a stable cost of risk, profit growth compared to the €14.101 billion in 2025, and a CET1 ratio of 12.8%–13.0%, thanks to strong commercial momentum and execution.
Furthermore, Santander’s Annual General Meeting approved the capital increase that will enable the acquisition of Webster, which will accelerate Santander’s transformation in the United States, as well as a final cash dividend against 2025 results of €0.125 per share, payable on 5 May 2026. Consequently, the total cash dividend per share for 2025 will be €0.24, an increase of more than 14%.
