Yet Santander's scale masks a structural vulnerability: approximately 45% of attributable profit comes from Latin America, where currency volatility, political risk, and regulatory changes in Brazil and Mexico create earnings unpredictability that European peers do not face. The group's loan impairment charge was EUR 7.2 billion, or a cost of risk of 1.15%, within the 2024 target of approximately 1.2%. The bank's strategic priority is proving that a 168-year-old institution can compete with digital challengers while maintaining the profitability and capital discipline that shareholders demand. The group's strategic response to competitive pressure is articulated in its 2025 targets: revenue of approximately EUR 62 billion, cost-to-income ratio below 42%, cost of risk around 1.15%, CET1 ratio in a 12%-13% operating range, and RoTE around 16.5%.
Risk-weighted assets totaled EUR 630 billion, with a fully-loaded CET1 ratio of 12.8% — above the target of above 12% and well above the regulatory minimum. These levies, combined with the Bank of Spain's implementation of Basel 3.1 regulations, are expected to increase risk-weighted assets and constrain capital deployment. Latin American exposure is a structural challenge. The strategic risk is geographic complexity — operating across nine distinct regulatory regimes, currencies, and credit cycles means that group-level performance is always a weighted average of very different national environments, making it harder to sustain consistent earnings momentum than a single-market bank.