Introduction

The largest banking group in Spain, Grupo Santander is the product of numerous mergers between Spanish banking organizations over a number of years. Santander also has a strong presence in Latin America, Continental Europe and the UK. With more than 50 million cards in issue across these regions, Santander is a truly global player.

Scope

Highlights

Reasons to Purchase

Understand the key elements of Grupo Santander's strategy and approach in the card issuing space, and see how this can be applied to your business. Learn how this strategy positions Grupo Santander for the future and where its biggest opportunities may lie. See how Grupo Santander compares to its competitors in Datamonitor's unique Competitor Benchmark exercise.

Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Table of Contents 2
Table of figures 3
Table of tables 4
Grupo santander 5
Key findings 5
Company Overview 5
Background 5
Ownership and Management 5
Grupo Santander's Board of Directors 6
Employees 6
Management Values 7
Company Structure 8
Principal level 8
Secondary level 8
Geographic Coverage 9
Europe 9
Latin America 10
Mergers and acquisitions have fuelled geographic expansion 11
Strategic Focus 11
Santander aims to become one of the top five banks in the world 11
Organic growth strategy is focused on increasing market presence and efficiency 12
Santander will only acquire other players in the market if strict criteria are met 16
Card statistics 16
Number of cards in issue 16
Balances outstanding 16
Key financials 17
Profit and loss account 17
Balance sheet 19
Card product offering 20
Spain 20
UK 22
Brazil 24
Chile 25
Mexico 25
Distribution 26
Company Outlook 26
Santander is in a strong position in its core European and Latin American markets 26
Santander aims to become one of the top five global banks in terms of profitability and efficiency 27
In Europe, Santander's challenge will be to continue its strong growth 27
In the UK, Abbey is diversifying from its position as a mortgage provider 27
Latin America presents an opportunity for further growth 28
Santander lacks major presence in the US 28
Datamonitor Competitor Benchmark 29
APPENDIX 32
Definitions of terms used in this report 32
Affinity card 32
Charge card 32
Co-branded card 32
Commercial card 32
Credit card 32
Premium card 32
Private label card 33
Data relating to the graphics in this profile 33
Methodology 34
Further reading 35
Ask the analyst 36
Datamonitor consulting 36
Disclaimer 36
List of Tables
Table 1: Grupo Santander's board of directors, 2006 6
Table 2: Number of Santander employees, 2005-06 7
Table 3: Number of Santander branches, 2005-06 7
Table 4: Acquisitions made by Santander, 1999-2005 11
Table 5: Santander's rankings in its various markets, 2006 12
Table 6: Smiles awarded on the Varig credit card, 2007 24
Table 7: Scorecard logic, part one 30
Table 8: Scorecard logic, part two 31
Table 9: Grupo Santander Revenue, operating costs and net profit, 2001-06 (€m) 33
Table 10: Grupo Santander balance sheet, 2001-06 (€m) 33
Table 11: Grupo Santander net income from cards as a proportion of total net income, 2004-06 34
Table 12: Current relevant Datamonitor publications, 2007 35
Table 13: Future relevant Datamonitor publications, 2007 35
List of Figures
Figure 1: Grupo Santander has a presence in 43 countries 9
Figure 2: Santander's strategy resulted in an increase in the number of new accounts and a reduced churn rate, 2005-06 14
Figure 3: Santander has concentrated on increasing branch numbers while slimming down its workforce 15
Figure 4: Santander aims to have achieved technological convergence by 2010 16
Figure 5: Grupo Santander's profits have grown rapidly from 2001-06 17
Figure 6: Retail banking accounted for 77% of Grupo Santander's revenue in 2006 18
Figure 7: Net income from cards has grown, but its relative importance in the group has fallen, 2004-06 19
Figure 8: Grupo Santander's balance sheet has grown rapidly from 2001-06 20
Figure 9: The Cahoot Webcard allows cardholders to make transactions securely online by generating a single use card number 23
Figure 10: The Santander Ronaldo MasterCard benefits Brazilian charities 25
Figure 11: Grupo Santander, Datamonitor's Competitor Benchmark 29