“The urgency of growth” is the theme of this year’s International Banking Conference organized by Banco Santander, whose president, Ana Botín, opened the session with a passionate defense of the European banking sector, which she described as straitjacketed “by regulation exceeding 90,000 pages, the equivalent of 50 bibles or 100 Quixotes.” “In the US, capital requirements are going down. In Europe, they are going up, and the differences are going…

“And corporate credit in Spain is now cheaper than in Germany, according to data from the ECB survey” (3.69% vs 3.70%), emphasized the president of Spain’s largest bank, Ana Botín, who saw a rise of more than 8% in the stock market yesterday after announcing profits of €12.574 billion (up 14%) with a revenue increase of 10%. (https://t.co/TUaTQ8qTGE ) The board intends to increase shareholder returns and also announces a…

Jefferies | 4Q2 First Look -New Guidance Supportive to Earnings and Buybacks: A 4% PBT beat, positively impacted by an FX adjustment in Argentina, with PBT ex-Argentina in line. Beats come from ‘core’ geos such as Spain, Mexico and Brazil, with softer prints in rest of Europe. New guidance implies c1-1.5bn EUR upside to ’25 cons profits (+10% at the mid-point) and c4bn EUR upside to cons buybacks in ’25-26….

Banco Santander informed the market yesterday that, in application of the bank’s current shareholder remuneration policy, consisting of a total shareholder remuneration target of around 50% of the group’s ordinary profit, distributed approximately equally between cash dividend and share buybacks, the board of directors has approved to implement a share buyback program to which an amount equivalent to around 25% of Santander’s ordinary profit will be allocated in 1H2024, a…