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Santander submits a final cash dividend for 2023 of 9.50 euro cents per share for approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM).
With this new payment and the new share buyback, the bank’s shareholder remuneration for the 2023 results will total over €5.5 billion, approximately 50% of the group attributable profit in that year1 and representing an equivalent yield of approximately 10%2.
The board of directors of Banco Santander also submits the appointments of Carlos Barrabés and Antonio Weiss as new independent directors for approval at the AGM.
Madrid, 19 February 2024.
The board of directors of Banco Santander today announced its decision to submit a final cash dividend for 2023 of 9.50 euro cents per share for approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM), expected to be held on 22 March 2024. As a result, the total cash dividend per share charged to 2023 results will be 17.60 euro cents, an increase of approximately 50% compared to the cash dividend against 2022. Furthermore, the bank has received the regulatory approval to execute a share buyback programme for an approximate amount of €1.5 billion, which will be launched on Tuesday 20 February 2024.
The final cash dividend will be paid on 2 May 2024 and the shareholder remuneration against the 2023 results will total over €5.5 billion, representing an equivalent yield of approximately 10%2. Once the new share buyback programme is completed by next June, Santander will have repurchased approximately 11% of its outstanding shares since 2021.
With these new payments, Santander’s payout ratio (the proportion of earnings distributed to shareholders) increases from 40% to 50% of attributable profit1, consistent with the new remuneration policy announced at the bank’s Investor Day a year ago.
Our strategy and competitive advantages have proven to deliver sustainable, increasing profitability and growth, year after year. After record performance in 2023, we continue to invest for future growth while increasing shareholder returns, returning more than €5.5 billion through dividends and buybacks, which represents an equivalent yield of approximately 10%[2]. We are already seeing good progress in 2024 and expect to achieve all our targets for this year, including a return on tangible equity of 16%
New board members
The board of directors of Banco Santander also submitted the appointments of Carlos Barrabés and Antonio Weiss as new independent directors for approval at the AGM, subject to regulatory authorisations. Mr Barrabés and Mr Weiss will fill the vacancies that will be left by Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who will be stepping down after this year’s AGM, and Ramiro Mato, who has also informed of his intention to not stand for re-election and leave the board of directors after the AGM, once the regulatory approval for the appointment of Antonio Weiss is obtained.
Mr Barrabés is considered an influential e-commerce pioneer. He brings vast experience of the Spanish market, especially in digitalization and innovation, with a focus on using technology for socio-economic development, promoting talent, and helping people and institutions get the most out of the digital transformation. Mr Weiss brings extensive experience of the US market, which is one of the group's strategic markets, and in particular in the financial sector, where he has held different executive positions, and in relevant public policy matters.
It has been a real privilege and honor to have Bruce as our lead director and very much appreciate his outstanding contribution and counsel to our progress over almost a decade. We are also very grateful to Ramiro for his contribution to Santander’s board and we will miss them both. Carlos and Antonio bring great innovation and digital expertise and financial capabilities as well as business experience to our board of directors. I look forward to working together.
Santander’s board of directors has 15 members, of which two thirds are independent. Members provide a broad variety of professional expertise and diversity in nationality and skills. Furthermore, 40% of its members are women.
Carlos Barrabés is president and founder of Grupo Barrabés, which offers advisory services to large companies in digital transformation, innovation, new technologies and e-commerce and internet, as well as to SMEs in innovation and efficient use of technology in business processes. He has been a member of the board of directors of the business unit of Santander Spain, of the advisory board of Vodafone, director of the Master Strategic Design Lab of the European Institute of Design and of the MBA program at the School of Industrial Organization in Madrid. Mr Barrabés was born in Spain in 1970.
Antonio Weiss is a partner in investment firm SSW and a research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center. He served in the Obama Administration as Counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he oversaw the department of Domestic Finance. Previously, Mr. Weiss served for over twenty years in various leadership roles at Lazard in New York and Paris, including as Global Head of Investment Banking. Mr. Weiss is a director of The Volcker Alliance, a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a trustee and past publisher of the leading literary quarterly, The Paris Review. He was born in New York in 1966 and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy.
1 The bank’s shareholder remuneration policy is approximately 50% payout of the group net attributable profit (excluding the impacts that do not affect cash or capital ratios directly), split in approximately equal parts in cash dividends and share buybacks. Implementation of this policy is subject to future corporate and regulatory decisions and approvals.
2 Per Banco Santander's market capitalization on 16 February 2024.