Santander is very dependent on the United States, in particular via its "subprime" car loan activities which are regularly put under the spotlight. The group was also hoping to strengthen its position in Mexico by buying Banamex from Citi before its shareholders categorically refused.

This trans-oceanic exposure does not only have disadvantages. Last year, the net interest margin in the Americas benefited fully from the rise in interest rates, counterbalancing a morose context in Europe.

The opposite is true in the first quarter of 2023: the trend is good in Europe, particularly in Spain, but profit is halved in the United States, where Santander is making substantial provisions for a possible wave of defaults.

Rising interest rates are a double-edged sword: they certainly allow banks to earn better returns, at least in the short term, but they can also cause waves of bankruptcies among their clients.

Santander has also been forced to pay a one-off tax of EUR 224 million to the Spanish government, similar to the windfall taxes once envisaged for the oil sector.

Despite these setbacks, the return on tangible equity of 14.4% beats the majority of comparables by a wide margin. The Spanish banking group has come through a mortifying decade; it also committed last year to accelerate returns of capital to shareholders.

At EUR3.3, Santander's stock is valued at x11 the average profit over the 2012-2022 period, and only x5 its profit last year. Its original model has been criticized, but it has served it well so far.