Stakeholder 
engagement and 
material concerns 
report
2019
santander.com
#TheRightWay
Let's continue 
working for a 
better world 


2
Stakeholder engagement and material concerns report 2019
“
 By delivering on our purpose, and helping 
people and businesses prosper, we grow as a 
business and we can help society address its 
challenges too. Economic progress and social 
progress go together. The value created by our 
business is shared – to the benefit of all. 
Communities are best served by corporations  
that have aligned their goals to serve  
  the long term goals of society. ”
Ana Botín
Our approach to responsible banking
By being responsible, we build loyalty
People
Shareholders
Communities
Customers
I´m loyal to Santander because...
... Santander 
treats me 
responsibly
In our day-to-day businesses, 
we ensure that we do not simply 
meet our legal and regulatory 
requirements, but we exceed people´s 
expectations by being Simple, 
Personal and Fair in all we do.
... Santander acts 
responsibly 
in  society
We focus on areas where, as a 
Group, our activity can have a 
major impact on helping people 
and businesses prosper.


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Our progress in 2019
Knowing our stakeholders’ opinions and concerns helps us to set our priorities, as well as 
to identify opportunities and areas for improvement. In 2019, we worked to improve our 
listening mechanisms and to identify material issues for the Bank.
In 2019 we have achieved the following:
Key highlights in 2019:
We focused on identifying how our stakeholders perceive the Santander values (Simple, 
Personal and Fair):
• 4,800 interviews with university students
• Over 11,000 interviews with shareholders 
• More than 45,000 surveys to banked population
Our Global Engagement Survey, through which we listen to our employees,  
secured an 88% participation rate
We launched Canal Abierto, a new model that sets common standards for the group 
whistleblowing’s channels, that has been implemented in most of the markets where we 
operate
We became one of the founding signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible 
Banking, committing to align our business with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 
Paris Agreement on Climate Change
We participated in the Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA) pilot to align 
our corporate lending portfolio with 2°C benchmark 
By listening to our stakeholders, we identified 15 issues as the most relevant for Santander, 
and established four key issues to focus in: Customer satisfaction measures, Diversity, Financial 
inclusion and Financial activity with climate and environmental impact.


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Stakeholder engagement and material concerns report 2019
Stakeholder engagement and 
material concerns 2019
Index
1. Dialogue with stakeholders: why it matters
5
2. How we engage with our stakeholders
6
3. How we identify material concerns
13
Process of identifying relevant factors	
13
Matrix for identifying material concerns	
16
4. Challenges and opportunities for Banco Santander
21
5. Our contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals	
23


5
1. Dialogue with stakeholders:
why it matters
In today’s world, stakeholders expect businesses to play a key role in tackling global 
challenges, and acting in a responsible manner each and every day. Dialogue is key to 
gather their vision and  expectations, helping us to become a more responsible bank.
Santander believes that responsible business 
is good business – in every sense of the word 
“good”. By responsible, we mean doing the basics 
brilliantly, day in, day out; and locking into our 
business model products and services that foster 
inclusive and sustainable growth. To achieve 
this, a continuous dialogue with stakeholders is 
increasingly important. 
Maintaining a dialogue with the stakeholders 
groups benefits Santander in a number of ways, 
as it helps us to: 
 Detect possible risks for business, and identify 
opportunities to create additional value for 
society.
 Develop new processes, products and services.
 Gain greater understanding of social, economic 
and environmental issues and trends. 
 Increase trust in Santander among all our 
stakeholders. 
Good dialogue with stakeholders is generally 
acknowledged by a wide array of international 
reporting standards, associations and initiatives 
as a key tool for understanding the concerns 
of stakeholders and for detecting risks and 
opportunities.
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Better risk and opportunity 
management
Innovation: new processes,
products and / or services
Greater understanding of the context social, 
economic and environmental
Increase trust and acceptability 
of the company