Company: BCDRF
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000891478-25-000054
Chunk: 135

Company: Banco Santander, S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 20-F
Chunk 135
---
 vulnerable customers. They cover the period 2024-2026.

We also have additional fraud management controls based on NPS and quality assurance.

Complaints handling

In 2024, we conducted a review of the channels on which customers can raise queries or complaints. The Customer service and dissatisfaction management policy outlines the principle of making multiple channels available to avoid the potential impact of not having adequate means for customers to convey their issues or dissatisfaction and to promote that we have channels that adapt to our customers’ needs and preferences.

Additionally, customers can escalate complaints through external channels, such as the Financial Ombudsman, regulatory bodies, and consumer agencies, if they are not satisfied with the entity’s resolution.

Most of our units are investing in digital channels to speed up case resolution and help customers self-manage certain queries, as well as to manage expectations better. Root-cause analysis governance and mitigation plans are an essential component of continuous improvement.

The units analyse customer complaints to identify their root causes—such as deficiencies in products, services, systems, channels, or communications—their impact, and the teams responsible for resolving them. These teams must submit clear action plans outlining what will be done, how, and when. Senior management regularly monitors progress and effectiveness. In 2024, all countries advanced in this area, with Spain leading efforts by strengthening governance and setting specific objectives. As a result, it achieved a 19% reduction in claims (excluding sector-wide events).

We have established a global, multidisciplinary working group to enhance our queries, requests and claims procedures and platforms. This includes embedding artificial intelligence in case registration and analysis.

Santander Brasil, in collaboration with the global Consumer Protection and Models and Data functions, developed “Viva Voz”, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to handle large volumes of information and delve deeply and quickly into the root cause of customer complaints. With this tool, it has gone from analysing 3% of cases in two days to analysing 60% in one day and is aiming to reach 100%. Similarly, Santander España and Polska are piloting artificial intelligence solutions to enhance customer claims management.

Annual report 2024 93

| Contents |     | Business model and strategy |     | Sustainability statement |     | Corporate governance |     | Economic and financial review |     | Riskmanagement and compliance |

#### Complaint typeA(%)

#### ResolutionA(%)
A. The Group uses the same standard claims metric for all geographies.

iv. Vulnerable customers In this section we cover