Company: BCDRF
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000891478-25-000054
Chunk: 982

Company: Banco Santander, S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 20-F
Chunk 982
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 robust ethical principles and corporate values is critical to protect our reputation and our brand, attract and retain customers, investors and employees and conduct business transactions with counterparties. Damage to our reputation could materially and adversely affect our perception among current and potential clients, investors, vendors, partners, regulators and other third parties, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition, and prospects as well as damage our customers' and investors' confidence and the market price of our securities.

| 914 |

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

Harm to our reputation could arise from numerous sources, including, among others, employee misconduct, including the possibility of fraud perpetrated by our employees, litigation or regulatory enforcement, failure to deliver minimum standards of service and quality, negative perceptions regarding our ability to maintain the security of our technology systems and protect customer data (including as a result of a cyberattack, data breach, data loss or other security incident), dealing with sectors that are not well perceived by the public (weapons industries or embargoed countries, for example), dealing with customers in sanctions lists, rating downgrades, significant variations in our share price throughout the year, compliance failures, unethical behaviour, actual or alleged conduct in any number of activities, including lending practice, sales and marketing, corporate governance and corporate culture, and the activities of customers and counterparties, including activities that negatively affect the environment. Our reputation could also suffer if we are the subject of negative coverage in the media, whether it has merit or not.

Actions by the financial services industry generally or by certain members of, or individuals in, the industry can also affect our reputation. For example, the role played by financial services firms in the financial crisis and the seeming shift toward increasing regulatory supervision and enforcement has caused public perception of us and others in the financial services industry to decline.

Additionally, we could suffer significant reputational harm that could affect our business, results of operations and prospects from any negative perceptions regarding topics related to environmental, social and corporate governance policies. There has been increased focus by customers, shareholders, investor advocacy groups, employees, regulators and other stakeholders on these topics, and our policies, practices and disclosures in these areas could come under scrutiny. Governments may implement new or additional regulations and standards or investors, customers and other stakeholders may impose new expectations or focus investments in ways that cause significant shifts in disclosure, consumption and behaviours that may have negative impacts