Shareholder remuneration

In application of the shareholder remuneration policy for 2023, the bank paid an additional cash dividend of EUR 9.50 cents per share against 2023 results in May 2024.

Likewise, and in application of the shareholder remuneration policy for 2023, a second share buyback programme was carried out between February and June 2024 for EUR 1,459 million, in which a total of 331,305,000 shares were acquired, representing 2.09% of the share capital. Under the authorization of the 22 March 2024 AGM, on 25 June 2024, the board agreed to amortize the shares acquired and to the corresponding reduction of share capital.

As a result, the total shareholder remuneration against 2023 results, including the EUR 8.10 cent in cash per share dividend paid in November 2023 and the first share buyback programme (EUR 1,310 million) completed in January 2024, was EUR 5,552 million, equivalent to approximately 50% of the Group’s attributed profit (excluding non-cash impacts and direct effects on capital ratios) in 2023. This remuneration was distributed around 50% in cash dividends and 50% through share buybacks.

Share capital reduction of 2.09% under the shareholder remuneration charged against the 2023 results

On 25 June, the board of directors reduced the Bank's share capital by EUR 165,652,500, cancelling 331,305,000 of its own shares. These shares account for 2.09% of share capital prior to the reduction and were acquired as part of the buyback programme that ran between February and June 2024 under the shareholder remuneration charged against the 2023 results. The capital reduction, which was approved at the general shareholders’ meeting on 22 March 2024, was registered with the Commercial Registry of Cantabria on 1 July. Consequently, Article 5 of the Bylaws was amended to reflect that the Bank’s share capital is set at EUR 7,747,136,786, comprising 15,494,273,572 shares with a nominal value of EUR 0.50 per share, all of the same class and affording the same rights.

The six share buyback programmes charged against the 2021, 2022 and 2023 results and the related share capital reductions have seen almost 11% of the Bank's shares (1,846,367,730 shares) cancelled since November 2021.

Further information on shareholder remuneration can be found in the following sections of this website:

• Dividends
• Share buybacks and why they’re important to shareholders
• Prices of latest reinvestments (PDF 138 Kb) (Only available in Spanish)
• The most recent and historical dividend payments are shown in the table below.