Company: BCDRF
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000891478-25-000054
Chunk: 947

Company: Banco Santander, S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 20-F
Chunk 947
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 our services, require additional compliance measures and changes to our operations and processes, result in increased compliance costs and potential increases in civil claims against us, any of which could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

2.1.3 We are subject to potential action by any of our regulators or supervisors, particularly in response to customer complaints.

As noted above, our business and operations are subject to increasingly significant rules and regulations that are required to conduct banking and financial services business. These apply to business operations, affect financial returns, include reserve and reporting requirements, and prudential and conduct of business regulations. These requirements are set by the relevant central banks and regulatory authorities that authorize, regulate and supervise us in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

In their supervisory roles, the regulators seek to maintain the safety and soundness of financial institutions with the aim of strengthening the protection of customers and the financial system. The supervisors’ continuing supervision of financial institutions is conducted through a variety of regulatory tools, including the collection of information by way of prudential returns, reports obtained from skilled persons, visits to firms and regular meetings with management to discuss issues such as performance, risk management and strategy. In general, these regulators have a more outcome-focused regulatory approach that involves more proactive enforcement and more punitive penalties for infringement. As a result, we face increased supervisory scrutiny (resulting in increasing internal compliance costs and supervision fees), and in the event of a breach of our regulatory obligations we are likely to face more stringent regulatory fines. Some of the regulators have been focusing intently on consumer protection and on conduct risk and could continue to do so. This has included a focus on the design and operation of products, the behaviour of customers

and the operation of markets. Such a focus could result, for example, in pricing regulations that could restrict our ability to charge certain levels of interest in credit transactions or in regulation that would prevent us from bundling products that we offer to our customers. Some of the laws in the relevant jurisdictions in which we operate, give the regulators the power to make temporary product intervention rules either to improve a firm’s systems and controls in relation to product design, product management and implementation, or to address problems identified with financial products. These problems may potentially cause significant detriment to consumers because of certain product features or governance flaws or distribution strategies. Such rules may prevent institutions from entering into product agreements with customers until such problems have been solved. Some of the regulatory regimes in the relevant jurisdictions in which we operate, require us to be in compliance across all