Company: BCDRF
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000891478-25-000054
Chunk: 915

Company: Banco Santander, S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 20-F
Chunk 915
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' included in Part 1 of this annual report on Form 20-F.

2. Risks relating to our business

2.1 Legal, regulatory and compliance risks for our business model

2.1.1 We are exposed to risk of loss from legal and regulatory proceedings.

We face risk of loss from legal and regulatory proceedings, including tax proceedings, that could subject us to monetary judgements, regulatory enforcement actions, fines and penalties. The current regulatory and tax enforcement environment in the jurisdictions in which we operate reflects an increased supervisory focus on enforcement, combined with uncertainty about the evolution of the regulatory regime, and may lead to material operational and compliance costs.

We are from time to time subject to regulatory investigations and civil and tax claims, and party to certain legal proceedings

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| Contents |     | Cross-reference to Form 20-F |     | Consolidated director's report |     | Consolidated financial statements |     | Supplemental information |

incidental to the normal course of our business, including, among others, in connection with conflicts of interest, lending and derivatives activities, relationships with our employees and other commercial, privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, tax or climate related matters. In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of legal matters, particularly where the claimants seek very large or indeterminate damages, or where the cases present novel legal theories, involve a large number of parties, are in the early stages of investigation or discovery, or have common elements but require assessment of circumstances on a case-by-case basis, we cannot state with certainty what the eventual outcome of these pending matters will be or what the eventual loss, fines or penalties related to each pending matter may be, such as, for instance, in relation to the recent judgments rendered by the Spanish Supreme Court concerning revolving credit cards.

The amount of our reserves in respect of these matters, which considers the likelihood of future cash outflows associated with each of such claims, is substantially less than the total amount of the claims asserted against us, and, in light of the uncertainties involved in such claims and proceedings, there is no assurance that the ultimate resolution of these matters will not significantly exceed the reserves currently accrued by us. As a result, the outcome of a particular matter may be material to our operating results for a particular period. As of 31 December 2024, we had provisions for taxes, other legal contingencies and other provisions for EUR 5,051 million. See more information in note 25.d) to our 'Consolidated financial statements