Company: BCDRF
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000891478-25-000054
Chunk: 910

Company: Banco Santander, S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 20-F
Chunk 910
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 commodities; (iii) the breakdown of global supply chains; and (iv) the return to tight monetary and fiscal policies, including by rising interest costs.

• Scenarios of political tensions and instability throughout the world stemming from a variety of factors, such as heightened polarization and political fragmentation, may lead to shifting and unpredictable outcomes in political elections, legislative and policy-making efforts, social conditions and the global economy and to the progressive erosion of the rule of law in certain long-standing democracies. Furthermore, increasing public debt levels together with high interest costs may not be sustainable and could lead certain countries to have higher sovereign risk premia and sovereign debt crises. A deterioration of the global economic, political, social and financial environment, particularly in Europe and the Americas, could have a material adverse impact on the financial sector, affecting our operating results, financial position and prospects.

In particular, the risk of returning in Europe to a fragile and volatile environment, heightened political tensions or recession could be aggravated if, among others, (i) the German economy falls into recession due to reduced competitiveness of its industrial sector, (ii) the policies implemented to provide emergency assistance and support to Ukraine, to alleviate the consequences of the war in the European Union (EU) countries and to contain inflation do not succeed, (iii) the reforms aimed at improving the labour

1 Percentages calculated using as denominators the underlying profit of total operating areas (i.e., without considering the EUR (1,154) million underlying losses accounted for in the Corporate Center resulting from centralized management of the areas) and the total assets of total operating areas (i.e., without considering EUR 240,948 million total assets accounted for in the Corporate Center and without intra-group eliminations).

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

market, productivity and competitiveness fail, (iv) the banking union and other measures of European integration do not take hold, or (v) anti-European groups become more widespread.

• The new presidential administration in the US has increased and is expected to continue increasing trade tariffs that could significantly reshape international trade relations and supply chains, potentially resulting in lower growth globally. Growing protectionism and trade tensions, such as the tensions between the US and China in recent years, could intensify, which could have a negative impact on the economies of the countries where we operate, and impact our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

• The shift of the