Emilio Botín: "We expect to be able to increase shareholder

Emilio Botín: "We expect to be able to increase shareholder

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  Press release INVESTOR DAY Emilio Botín: “We expect to be able to increase shareholder remuneration from 2013 onwards”  “Santander will obtain ROE of 12-14% and ROTE of 16-18% in 2014. We will deliver fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) annual growth of around 10% from 2011 to 2014.”  “Spain can be the biggest positive surprise for investors in the coming years. We expect 2012 to be similar to 2011. From 2013 onwards we expect a gradual normalization of provisions, non-performing loans and funding costs.”  We will continue to deliver strong growth in earnings in emerging markets and we will gain market share in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany.”  “Our organic capital generation will enable our core capital to get closer to a 10% ratio in 2013, without any capital increase”.  The current share price of Banco Santander does not reflect our value. Achieving our estimates should lead to a significant revaluation of our share price. Santander’s dividend yield stands at 10%. Santander is a “high-yield, low-risk investment opportunity”  “Banco Santander will maintain its strategy and business model, as we believe they fit very well with the new regulation and already incorporate the key pillars for a competitive global bank in the future”. London, September 30th 2011 – Banco Santander Chairman Emilio Botín said Banco Santander’s business model “has proved to be the right one to overcome the last four years of financial crisis and regulatory changes.” During his speech at the closing of the two-day meeting with analysts and investors that the bank held in London this week, Botín pointed out that since 2008 the bank has registered average annual net profits of EUR 8 billion (or total net profit of EUR 32 billion), has distributed dividends of EUR 19 billion to shareholders. Moreover, according to recent results of the EBA stress test, in an adverse scenario Santander would be the most profitable European bank, with the highest dividend and highest retained earnings. “Banco Santander´s earnings today are clearly below its potential”, Botín said. He added that 2012 will be a similar year to the current one. From 2013 onwards, the macroeconomic and financial environment should gradually improve. “Assuming the same perimeter, I expect Banco Santander to achieve a Return on Equity (ROE) of 12% to 14% and a Return on Tangible Equity (ROTE) of 16% to 18% in 2014. This should lead to a significant revaluation of our share price,” Botín said. 1 Comunicación Externa. Ciudad Grupo Santander Edificio Arrecife Pl. 2 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Telf.: 34 91 289 52 11 email: [email protected]
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  Botin is convincedthat “Santander is a “high-yield, low-risk investment opportunity,” mentioning three reasons that justify this view: “Banco Santander is stronger today than before the crisis; has a unique strategic position among global banks; and a clear strategy to create value for shareholders in coming years.” Strength Botín said: “Over the last four years of economic crisis, Banco Santander has achieved three targets that I consider to be as important as the last 20 years of successful growth: - Our profits have remained stable and we have maintained our remuneration per share. - We have significantly strengthened our capital and liquidity. Our core capital ratio has increased from 6.2% in 2007 to 9.2% today. In addition, we have maintained a very conservative provisioning policy with more than EUR 30 billion provisions in the last three years. Our loan-to-deposit ratio has fallen from 159 per cent to 116 per cent. - Banco Santander has been able to grow during the crisis on three fronts: Through strategic acquisitions; an organic increase of our market share in Spain, the UK and in Consumer Finance; and a far greater global awareness of the Banco Santander brand; Unique strategic positioning Regarding the strategic positioning, he highlighted geographic diversification: “Santander is present in 10 core markets. Five of them are emerging countries (Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Poland), contributing 48% of profit, and another five developed economies (Spain, U.K., Portugal, Germany and the U.S.), which contribute 52% of profit. This is unique among global banks. In each of our 10 core markets we target to achieve a market share above 10% and become one of the top three banks in retail and commercial banking.” He added that having critical mass in each of these 10 markets, allows Banco Santander to be efficient and competitive in the local market, consider the potential listing of the subsidiaries when this creates value to the Group and be an active player in the consolidation of the local financial sector. He also spoke about the “culture of prudent risk management and focus on retail and commercial banking and independent from the business lines. Our risk management model, policies and practices are global, assuring that we have a complete view of the Group’s risks. Santander follows a very disciplined risk policy, building strong provisions and reserves to strengthen our balance sheet. This way we are able to better overcome the business cycles.” Botín insisted on the strategic and regulatory advantages of having a model of subsidiaries which are autonomous in funding and capital. “All our subsidiaries manage their own liquidity without any assistance from the group. We have access to debt capital markets in 10 different countries globally,” he said. Listing subsidiaries has significant strategic and regulatory advantages. It allows us to have access to capital at group level or at subsidiary; it makes the shares of our subsidiaries an attractive currency for local acquisitions; increases valuation visibility of our business units; guarantees the highest level of transparency and corporate governance, reinforces the Santander brand in the local market and becomes a significant incentive for local management. 2 Comunicación Externa. Ciudad Grupo Santander Edificio Arrecife Pl. 2 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Telf.: 34 91 289 52 11 email: [email protected]
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  “Santander combines thefinancial flexibility of subsidiaries with a high degree of integration, creating significant group synergies and, therefore, higher earnings than what the different countries would achieve as stand alone banks.” He highlighted that Santander’s efficiency ratio stood at 43.3% in 2010 “well below the average of our peers, at 59.4%.” “What makes Santander different are the corporate systems that we roll-out across the Group, allowing us to achieve cost and revenue synergies; to reinforce Santander’s culture with special importance on risk management and better control of our operations globally; and finally, to invest in a more efficient way than our peers. We still have significant potential for the coming years,” he added. He also talked about the importance of adopting a single global brand strategy, as well as the global cooperation with universities, with specific agreements and cooperation projects in the field of higher education where the bank invested EUR 105 million in 2010. “As a result, Santander has a higher profitability on capital than its peers. Banco Santander’s Return on Tangible Equity (ROTE) calculated on recurrent earnings is currently 14.5%, well above the levels of most of our peers. High profitability is a key competitive advantage for Banco Santander as it allows us to maintain a dividend payout of around 50 per cent of net profit in good and in bad times and, at the same time, generate organic capital of a minimum of 60 basis points per year. Banco Santander has generated EUR 17 billion of organic capital or more than 300 basis points, during the last four years.” Strategy to creat value Botín said: “Mature markets will continue to delever and the world economic recovery will be gradual, led by emerging markets, with increasing visibility in 2013 and 2014. Market volatility will remain and regulatory requirements will continue to increase. In this environment, many of our competitors have recently announced significant changes in their strategy. Banco Santander will maintain its strategy and business model as we believe they fit very well with the new regulation and already incorporate the key pillars for a competitive global bank in the future.” The Banco Santander Chairman mentioned the main drivers of value creation in the next three years: organic growth and higher profitability; active portfolio management with a balanced strategy of acquisitions and disposals; and capital strength. Regarding organic growth and higher profitability in Santander’s ten core markets, Botín pointed out the larger contribution to profit of the businesses in Spain driven by lower provisions and higher margins, especially from 2013 onwards. He added: “We will continue to deliver strong growth in earnings in emerging markets, which account for 48% of our earnings. We will gain market share in developed countries like the U.S., the U.K. and Germany where we are finishing the implementation of our Santander model of technology and costs and our commercial strategy.” Regarding Spain, Botín said:: “We have hit bottom and we expect 2012 to be similar to 2011. From 2013 onwards we expect a gradual normalization of provisions, non-performing loans and funding costs. I believe that Spain’s contribution to earnings can be the biggest positive surprise for investors in the coming years. We have real estate provisions well above the regulatory requirements. We revise our internal models periodically and increase our provisions if required. In a very conservative scenario, we are expecting to have a similar 3 Comunicación Externa. Ciudad Grupo Santander Edificio Arrecife Pl. 2 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Telf.: 34 91 289 52 11 email: [email protected]
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  provision charge in2012 than in 2011 and a downward trend from 2013 onwards. We have enough scale in Spain with two very competitive Banks: Santander and Banesto. Further consolidation in the sector should allow us to continue gaining market share organically.” With regard to the U.K., Botín said: “Given the current market environment and regulatory uncertainty, we do not expect to launch the IPO before 2013. We will launch it when market conditions are there to create value for the Group.” He also commented on regulation: “There is a risk that current banking reform initiatives combined with tight global liquidity could constrain economic growth in the U.K. We need strong banks that can provide credit to customers at all times.” He pointed out that the acquisition of the RBS branches “will provide us with critical mass to compete in the Small and Medium Enterprise and Corporate segments. We are building a full-service clearing bank with a customer-centric model, combining our strength in risk management and innovation. This will allow us to deliver more recurrent revenues over the cycle.” Regarding Brazil, the Banco Santander chairman said: “We have finalized the integration of two very good banks in Brazil. We expect our business in Brazil to grow driven by the expansion of our distribution footprint and further development of business partnerships.” As to other core markets, he pointed out that Portugal will show profits in 2011 and 2012”; that “we are in the U.S to stay”; and that in Poland “we target a market share of 10 per cent in the medium term.” He highlighted the importance of an “active portfolio management with a balanced strategy of acquisitions and disposals. Over the last 3 years the value of Banco Santander acquisitions is roughly the same as the value of our disposals. Both around 14 billion euros. Very strict acquisition and disposal criteria are more important than ever given the higher cost of funding and capital. This has been our policy in the past and will continue in the future.” He also mentioned the importance of capital. We have a core capital ratio above 9% under Basel II. Capital strength is a key management principle for Banco Santander. Our organic capital generation will keep our core capital ratio under Basel III above 9% by 2013 and getting closer to a 10% ratio, without any capital increase.” Lastly, Botín reviewed the main conclusions of the Investor Day: 1. “Banco Santander’s business model has proved to be highly robust during the last four years of financial crisis, due to our focus on commercial banking, our geographical diversification and our prudent risk culture.” 2. “Banco Santander has a unique strategic position to face the new regulatory and competitive environment in global financial services. We combine the financial flexibility of subsidiaries with a well integrated Group with significant synergies. We combine high-growth markets with strong positions in developed countries.” 3. Banco Santander’s balance sheet is very transparent. Our balance sheet integrity and resilience in the most adverse scenario is a key pillar of our Group. We have shown, over the past two days, our limited sovereign risk position and details of our exposure to real estate in Spain. Neither these two or any other positions could affect in a material way our results. 4 Comunicación Externa. Ciudad Grupo Santander Edificio Arrecife Pl. 2 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Telf.: 34 91 289 52 11 email: [email protected]
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  4. “Banco Santanderhas a clear capital management policy. We do not need to tap our shareholders to maintain our core capital ratio above the minimum regulatory requirement, except for our annual voluntary scrip dividend.” 5. “In 2014 we expect to achieve a Return on Equity of 12% to 14% and a Return on Tangible Equity of 16% to 18% assuming the same perimeter. These objectives are aligned with a core capital ratio above 9%.and would generate fully diluted EPS annual growth of around 10% from 2011 to 2014. Therefore, we expect to be able to increase the remuneration per share from 2013 onwards.” 6. “We are not planning any significant acquisition or divestment in coming years. Our geographical diversification gives us the right balance.” Botin ended his speech with a message of confidence regarding the Santander share. “The current share price of Banco Santander does not reflect our value. Achieving our estimates should lead to a significant revaluation of Banco Santander´s share price. Together with the current 10% dividend yield, Santander offers a very attractive potential return. Santander is a high yield, low risk investment opportunity, he said. 5 Comunicación Externa. Ciudad Grupo Santander Edificio Arrecife Pl. 2 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Telf.: 34 91 289 52 11 email: [email protected]
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  The heads ofSantander’s units in the U.S., Poland and Portugal also presented in the second session of the Investor Day. Sovereign Bank (U.S.A) Sovereign, Santander's fully-owned subsidiary in the U.S. Northeast, has reported that the initial phase of stabilization in its turnaround, begun when Santander acquired the bank in January 2009, is on track for a successful completion. According to Sovereign CEO Jorge Morán, it is the result of a strengthening of the balance sheet as well as improvements in risk management and cost control systems. The second phase of the turnaround will focus on rolling out the Group's proprietary IT core banking platform, the development of a broader product range to help transform Sovereign into a full-service retail and commercial bank that can leverage Santander's global corporate banking network. Bank Zachodni WBK (Poland) Bank Zachodni WBK, Banco Santander’s retail banking arm in Poland, expects to generate 20% annual growth in profit over the next three years and net profit of EUR 480 million by 2013, compared to EUR 246 million in 2010, according to Gerry Byrne, chairman of the supervisory board. Boosted by growth in each one of the segments (retail, SMEs and enterprises,) and with an expansion of the Polish economy of around 3% a year, Bank Zachodni WBK expects to maintain its loans-to-deposits ratio below 100% and its core capital above 10%, highlighting its financial strength. The Polish bank will leverage Santander’s technological edge to generate significant revenue growth and economies of scale, as well as best practices in terms of cost management, enabling the bank to improve its efficiency ratio to 41%, compared to 48% in 2010, enhancing its profitability. Santander Totta (Portugal) Nuno Amado, Santander Totta CEO, said that in a difficult context for the Portuguese banking system, in view of the economy’s weakness, Santander Totta has outperformed its main competitors, focusing on commercial banking, maintaining the strategy of strengthening capital, with a core capital of around 10%, reducing the commercial gap, maintaining the NPL ratio at the lowest of the sector, and an appropriate liquidity plan. In retail banking, the strategy will focus on the Private & Premium segment, developing the Ready productivity project –an important review of the commercial procedures and business goals- in Enterprises in following a balanced business plan –in terms of commercial gap, with a focus on transactional services, control on NPLs and a focus on recoveries and maintaining rigorous cost management. More information in www.santander.com 6 Comunicación Externa. Ciudad Grupo Santander Edificio Arrecife Pl. 2 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Telf.: 34 91 289 52 11 email: [email protected]