Last update: 06/03/2026
Listed companies reward their shareholders with a portion of their profits. Cash dividends are the most common form of this reward. But some companies' shareholder remuneration offers up an alternative: the share buyback. Here we tell you about our shareholder remuneration.
Charged to the results for the second half of 2025, the Board of Directors has approved:
- The implementation of a share buy-back programme for an approximate amount of €5,030 million, for which the Bank has already obtained the necessary regulatory authorization and is currently underway. In line with the Bank’s current shareholder remuneration policy, €1,830 million corresponds to an amount equivalent to approximately 25% of the Group’s net attributable profit (excluding non-cash, non-capital ratios impact items) for the second half of 2025. The remainder of the programme relates to an extraordinary share buy-back of €3,200 million, representing approximately 50% of the CET1 capital generated following the completion of the sale of 49% of Santander Bank Polska to Erste Group. You can find all the information about the share buyback program here.
- Submit to the 2026 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, in application of the Bank’s shareholder remuneration policy, the approval of the payment against 2025 results of a final gross cash dividend of €12.50 cents per share entitled to receive dividends. Subject to the approval of the 2026 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the dividend would be payable from 5 May 2026. Thus, the last day to trade shares with a right to receive the dividend would be 29 April, the ex-dividend date would be 30 April and the record date would be 4 May.
Charged to the results for the first half of 2025, the Group carried out the following:
- A payment of an interim cash dividend of €11.50 cents per share, paid in November 2025, equivalent to c.25% of the Group’s net attributable profit in H1 2025 (excluding non-cash, non-capital ratios impact items), 15% higher than its 2024 equivalent.
- The first share buyback programme of €1.7 billion, carried out between 31 July 2025 and 23 December 2025.
Total shareholder remuneration charged against H1 2025 results was €3,399 million, 11% higher than the remuneration charged against H1 2024 results. The amount is approximately 50% of H1 2025 net attributable profit (around 25% through cash dividend payments and around 25% through share buybacks).
As a result of our strong capital generation, we expect to reward shareholders with 10 billion euros in share buy-backs for 2025 and 2026 and with excess capital, in addition to the ordinary distribution of cash dividends.
What is a share buyback programme and why is it important for shareholders?
Share buyback is a form of remuneration for a company's shareholders. A share buyback is when companies buy back their own shares from the market, cancel them and, ultimately, reduce share capital. With fewer shares in circulation, each shareholder gets both a larger stake in the company and a higher return on future dividends.
What are the benefits of a share buyback
Here are some of the ways that buybacks work to shareholders' advantage under normal market conditions:
- First, since the company’s value remains the same but the supply of shares is lower, the share price will increase. However, that depends on market behaviour.
- Second, the earnings per share (EPS) should increase because fewer shares are in circulation. Shareholders will have a greater stake in the company’s profits.
- Unless a shareholder chooses to offload their shares, a buyback is a tax-free transaction.
Imagine a listed company with 1,000 shares, and 100 (10%) of them are held by one shareholder. The company runs a share buyback programme and purchases 100 shares, reducing total share capital to 900 shares. The shareholder, whose stake has just increased by 1.11% to 11.11%, is now entitled to more of the company's profits. Also, the share price should become more attractive to investors.
In short, a share buy-back programme allows companies to generate additional value for their shareholders. Under normal market conditions, the portion of profits that listed companies use to buy back their own shares directly benefits the price of the shares.
