Financial Performance Highlights - H1'25 attributable profit reached €6.83 billion, a 13% increase compared to H1'24 [22, 61] - Group revenue totaled €31.01 billion, showing a slight decrease of 0% in current euros but a 5% increase in constant euros compared to H1'24 [24] - The Group's RoTE post-AT1 stood at 16.0%, a 0.9 percentage point increase year-over-year [22] - TNAVps (Tangible Net Asset Value per Share) plus Cash DPS (Dividend Per Share) increased by 16% year-over-year [22, 57] Business Segment Performance - Retail banking achieved a RoTE post-AT1 of 17.2% with a profit of €3.7 billion [30, 33] - CIB (Corporate & Investment Banking) reported a RoTE post-AT1 of 20.8% and a profit of €1.5 billion [30, 39] - Wealth Management saw a RoTE post-AT1 of 67.3% and a profit of €948 million [30, 43] - Payments, including PagoNxt and Cards, reported a profit of €335 million, with PagoNxt EBITDA margin at 28.8% [30, 50] Strategic Initiatives and Capital Allocation - The company is ahead of its Investor Day 2025 targets, including profitability and shareholder remuneration [17] - The company plans to distribute approximately 50% of Group reported profit as shareholder remuneration, split evenly between cash dividends and share buybacks [19] - The company aims for at least €10 billion in share buybacks for 2025 and 2026 earnings [18, 88]

Group 1: Santander's Sale and Partnership - Santander is selling approximately 49% of Santander Polska's share capital and 50% of its Polish asset management business to Erste Group for $7.9 billion [1][2] - The deal includes a partnership where Santander will provide Erste access to its payment system, allowing both banks to explore opportunities in payments, particularly with Santander Polska post-completion [1][2] Group 2: Corporate and Investment Banking Collaboration - Santander and Erste are forming a corporate and investment banking partnership to leverage each other's regional strengths, offering local solutions and market insights to corporate and institutional clients through a referral model [3] - This partnership aims to facilitate seamless client interactions and service offerings [3] Group 3: Economic Outlook and Strategic Focus - Santander's Executive Chair, Ana Botín, highlighted the bank's focus on helping clients manage volatility related to U.S. tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty, which has contributed to a decline in the five-year growth forecast for the world economy to 3.1%, the lowest in 16 years [4] - The bank is leveraging its global scale and diversification as stabilizers in the current economic environment, anticipating continued profitability growth by 2025 [5] Group 4: Importance of Real-Time Payments - Research indicates that offering real-time payments is crucial for banks to attract and retain small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients, with many SMBs willing to pay fees for instant payment advantages [6][7] - Specifically, 88% of the smallest SMBs, those with annual revenues of less than $100,000, would be willing to pay a percentage fee for instant payments [7]