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FORM 6-K

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Report of Foreign Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the month of May, 2019

Commission File Number: 001-12518

Banco Santander, S.A.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Ciudad Grupo Santander

28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Spain

(Address of principal executive office)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F:

Form 20-F  ☒            Form 40-F  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1):

Yes  ☐             No  ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7):

Yes  ☐             No  ☒

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Banco Santander, S.A.

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Item 1

Santander earns €1,840 million in attributable profit for the first quarter of 2019

Profit before tax increased by 3% in constant euros to €3,684 million

Madrid, 30 April 2019 - PRESS RELEASE

Banco Santander Group Executive Chairman, Ana Botín, said:

“The number of loyal and digital customers increased by 1.8 million and 6.5 million respectively since Q1 2018, helping to increase customer revenues during the first quarter of this year, while credit quality and costs performed well.

“Underlying profit has increased in seven of our ten core markets, with the US our fastest growing market again, increasing attributable profit by 46% year-on-year, while Brazil and Mexico are maintaining the positive momentum established in recent years. This has been achieved despite a difficult operating environment, particularly in the UK and Europe.

Corporate Communications		1
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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“The bottom line was impacted by restructuring charges and assets sales, however, we have continued to deliver strong organic capital generation while increasing shareholder value, growing TNAV per share by 3% in the quarter.

“Looking forward, we continue to invest in digital transformation, which together with our unique geographic footprint creates significant opportunities for profitable growth. We are confident we will achieve our medium-term targets, including a RoTE of 13-15%.”

Results Summary (Q119 v Q118)

The Group’s achieved an attributable profit of €1,840 million during the first quarter of 2019, down 10% year-on-year (-8% in constant euros) after the Group incurred a net charge of €108 million relating to asset sales and restructuring. The charge reflected a €150 million gain from the sale of 51% of the Group’s stake in Prisma in Argentina, offset by a €180 million loss from the sale of a portfolio of residential properties in Spain and a €78 million charge relating to restructuring costs in the UK and Poland.

During the quarter the bank saw solid customer trends, with net interest income increasing by 3% year-on-year (+5% in constant euros) and lending and funds increasing by 4% and 5% respectively over the same period in constant euros. The number of loyal customers (customer using Santander as their primary bank) has increased by 1.8 million since Q1 2018, while total customers have increased by five million to 144 million over the same period.

These positive trends were offset, however, by a fall in market related revenues, an adjustment for high inflation in Argentina, and the impact of IFRS 16 (which changed the accounting treatment for sale and lease-backs), as well as a 7% increase in taxes in constant euros. As a result, underlying profit fell by 2% year-on-year in constant euros to €1,948 million, while profit before tax increased by 3%, also in constant euros.

Adoption of digital products and services continued to accelerate in the quarter, with the number of digital customers increasing by 24% year-on-year to 33.9 million. Openbank, the largest full service digital bank in Europe by assets, began testing in Germany during the quarter and plans to launch in the Netherlands and Portugal later this year.

Corporate Communications		2
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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The Group’s ongoing investment in digital helped the bank maintain a top-three ranking for customer satisfaction in seven of its core countries, while also improving operational efficiency. Santander’s cost-to-income ratio remained among the lowest of its peers at 47.6%, with operating expenses falling by 2% in real terms due to synergies from integrations.

The Group’s geographic diversification remained one of its key strengths with the Americas contributing 52% of Group underlying profit and Europe 48%. Brazil remained the largest contributor with 29% of total Group attributable profit, followed by Spain with 16%, Santander Consumer Finance with 13% and the UK with 11%.

Credit quality improved further in the quarter, with the non-performing loan ratio falling by 40 bps to 3.62% year-on-year and loan-loss provisions reducing by 5% to €2,172 million. Cost of credit (the rate at which the bank needs to provision when lending money) was seven basis points lower than Q1 2018 at 0.97%, the lowest level since 2008.

Organic CET1 capital generation in the quarter was strong (+20 bps), offsetting in part the impact of various regulatory changes, including IFRS 16 (-19 bps), the phase in of IFRS 9 (-3 bps), changes to capital models in Spain (-2 bps) and the adoption of TRIM (-5 bps). As a result, the Group maintained a CET1 ratio of 11.25%, in line with its medium-term target of 11-12%.

Tangible net asset value per share, a key measure of shareholder value, increased by 3% during the quarter to €4.30, while the Group maintained one of the highest statutory return on tangible equity among its peers at 11.2%.

Country Summary (Q119 v Q118)

In Brazil, earnings continued to grow, with attributable profit increasing by 7% to €724 million (+15% in constant euros), as the bank remained focused on customer loyalty and satisfaction, while keeping costs under control. As a result, ROTE was 21% in the first quarter. Lending remained strong, with double digit growth in retail loans and consumer finance, while deposits were 14% higher year-on-year in constant euros. Santander Brazil continued to progress in its digital and commercial transformation, with the launch of Santander On, an app which helps customers in their financial decisions, and Pi, a digital investment platform. Digital customers grew 35% year on year and loyal clients increased by 15%.

In Spain, the migration of Popular to the Santander platform continued during the quarter, with the resulting synergies helping drive a reduction in expenses of 5.7% year-on-year. Attributable profit reduced by 11% year-on-year to €403 million after Q1 2018 benefited from debt sales and more favourable markets. A reduction in wholesale banking activity led to a fall in fee income of 8.7% year-on-year, despite good business trends overall.

New lending increased by 3% year-on-year driven by good growth in SMEs, business and retail, while our strategic focus on companies led to an increase in loyal business customers of 20% over the same period. Interest income was up 6%, with the cost of deposits falling to 0.12%. Deposits were up 5% year-on-year, while lending was down 3%, due to the deleveraging of large corporates and a drop in the stock of mortgages.

Corporate Communications		3
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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Santander Consumer Finance, a leader in consumer finance in Europe, increased attributable profit by 1% during the period to €325 million (+1% in constant euros), driven by higher net interest income (+3% in constant euros), combined with strong cost control and historically low NPLs and cost of credit.

In Mexico attributable profit increased by 18% to €206 million (+12% in constant euros) as the bank increased loyal customers by 28% and digital customers by 57%. Strong growth in lending across all segments led to an increase in interest income of 12% year-on-year in constant euros. This, combined with strong credit quality, resulted in an increase in RoTE of 65 basis points to 20.2%. On April 12th, the Group announced its intention to acquire the 25% stake in Santander Mexico that it doesn’t already control through an exchange offer.

In the UK attributable profit fell by 36% to €205 million (-37% in constant euros) following a €66 million charge for restructuring costs. Excluding the impact of this, underlying profit fell by 15% (16% in constant euros) as a highly competitive environment placed pressure on revenues, and costs increased due to higher investments in strategic, digital transformation and regulatory projects. Lending and customer funds both increased by 1%.

Santander US registered a very positive quarter, with attributable profit increasing by 46% to €182 million (+35% in constant euros) due to positive trends across all main lines. Total income increased by 6% in constant euros, supported by higher balances and yields at SBNA, and higher volumes and leasing activity in SCUSA, while the cost trend continued to improve due to the implantation of cost optimisation measures. Loan loss provisions fell by 2% in constant euros, while the cost of credit and NPL ratio also improved year-on-year.

In Argentina, attributable profit was €161 million, up 143% (377% in constant euros) following the sale in February of 51% of the bank’s stake in payments company Prisma Medios de Pago, which generated a net capital gain of €150 million. Excluding this transaction, underlying profit was down 84% (68% in constant euros), to €11 million, as a result of the negative impact of high inflation adjustments and a challenging business environment

In Chile, attributable profit fell by 1% to €149 million (+1% in constant euros). Interest income fell by 8% in constant euros due to low inflation and an interest rate rise in the quarter, which affects short term spreads, but was offset by growth in business volumes in core products, cost control and improved credit quality. Lending and deposits increased by 8% and 4% respectively year-on-year in constant euros.

In Portugal, attributable profit increased by 7% to €135 million with income increasing by 5% and costs declining by 1%. Growth in new lending was strong, with market shares in new loans to companies and mortgages of around 20%, while the cost of credit fell to 0.03%.

In Poland, business volumes reflected the integration of Deutsche Bank Polska’s retail and SMEs businesses, which was completed at the end of 2018, with lending growing by 29% and deposits by 32%, both in constant euros. Attributable profit fell by 21% (18% in constant euros), to €50 million, as the bank took a charge for restructuring costs of €12 million. Underlying profit fell by 2% (+1% in constant euros) due to an increased contribution to the Bank Guarantee Fund and Banking Tax.

Corporate Communications		4
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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About Banco Santander

Banco Santander is the largest bank in the Eurozone with a market capitalisation of €67,292 million at 31 March 2019. It has a strong and focused presence in ten core markets across Europe and the Americas with more than 4 million shareholders and 200,000 employees serving 144 million customers.

Corporate Communications		5
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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Key consolidated data (from Q1 2019 financial report)

Note: The financial information in this report was approved by the Board of Directors, following a favourable report from the Audit Committee.

Corporate Communications		6
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Non-IFRS and alternative performance measures

In addition to the financial information prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), this press release contains certain financial measures that constitute alternative performance measures (“APMs”) as defined in the Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures issued by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 5 October 2015 (ESMA/2015/1415en) and other non-IFRS measures (“Non-IFRS Measures”). The financial measures contained in this press release that qualify as APMs and non-IFRS measures have been calculated using the financial information from Santander Group but are not defined or detailed in the applicable financial reporting framework and have neither been audited nor reviewed by our auditors. We use these APMs and non-IFRS measures when planning, monitoring and evaluating our performance. We consider these APMs and non-IFRS measures to be useful metrics for management and investors to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period. While we believe that these APMs and non-IFRS measures are useful in evaluating our business, this information should be considered as supplemental in nature and is not meant as a substitute of IFRS measures. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate or use such measures differently, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures. For further details of the APMs and Non-IFRS Measures used, including its definition or a reconciliation between any applicable management indicators and the financial data presented in the consolidated financial statements prepared under IFRS, please see 2018 Annual Financial Report, published as Relevant Fact on 28 February 2019, as well as the section “Alternative performance measures” of the annex to the Santander 2019 1Q Financial Report, published as Relevant Fact on 30 April 2019. These documents are available on Santander’s website (www.santander.com).

The businesses included in each of our geographic segments and the accounting principles under which their results are presented here may differ from the included businesses and local applicable accounting principles of our public subsidiaries in such geographies. Accordingly, the results of operations and trends shown for our geographic segments may differ materially from those of such subsidiaries

Forward-looking statements

Santander cautions that this press release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “expect”, “project”, “anticipate”, “should”, “intend”, “probability”, “risk”, “VaR”, “RoRAC”, “RoRWA”, “TNAV”, “target”, “goal”, “objective”, “estimate”, “future” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are found in various places throughout this press release and include, without limitation, statements concerning our future business development and economic performance and our shareholder remuneration policy. While these forward-looking statements represent our judgment and future expectations concerning the development of our business, a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors could cause actual developments and results to differ materially from our expectations. The following important factors, in addition to those discussed elsewhere in this press release and in our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, could affect our future results and could cause outcomes to differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statement: (1) general economic or industry conditions in areas in which we have significant business activities or investments, including a worsening of the economic environment, increasing in the volatility of the capital markets, inflation or deflation, and changes in demographics, consumer spending, investment or saving habits; (2) exposure to various types of market risks, principally including interest rate risk, foreign exchange rate risk, equity price risk and risks associated with the replacement of benchmark indices; (3) potential losses associated with prepayment of our loan and investment portfolio, declines in the value of collateral securing our loan portfolio, and counterparty risk; (4) political stability in Spain, the UK, other European countries, Latin America and the US (5) changes in laws, regulations or taxes, including changes in regulatory capital and liquidity requirements, including as a result of the UK exiting the European Union and increased regulation in light of the global financial crisis; (6) our ability to integrate successfully our acquisitions and the challenges inherent in diverting management’s focus and resources from other strategic opportunities and from operational matters while we integrate these acquisitions; and (7) changes in our ability to access liquidity and funding on acceptable terms, including as a result of changes in our credit spreads or a downgrade in our credit ratings or those of our more significant subsidiaries. Numerous factors could affect the future results of Santander and could result in those results deviating materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Other unknown or unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on the knowledge, information available and views taken on such date; such knowledge, information and views may change at any time. Santander does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

No offer

The information contained in this press release is subject to, and must be read in conjunction with, all other publicly available information, including, where relevant any fuller disclosure document published by Santander. Any person at any time acquiring securities must do so only on the basis of such person’s own judgment as to the merits or the suitability of the securities for its purpose and only on such information as is contained in such public information having taken all such professional or other advice as it considers necessary or appropriate in the circumstances and not in reliance on the information contained in this press release. No investment activity should be undertaken on the basis of the information contained in this press release. In making this press release available Santander gives no advice and makes no recommendation to buy, sell or otherwise deal in shares in Santander or in any other securities or investments whatsoever.

Neither this press release nor any of the information contained therein constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. No offering of securities shall be made in the United States except pursuant to registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom. Nothing contained in this press release is intended to constitute an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity for the purposes of the prohibition on financial promotion in the U.K. Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Historical performance is not indicative of future results

Statements as to historical performance or financial accretion are not intended to mean that future performance, share price or future earnings (including earnings per share) for any period will necessarily match or exceed those of any prior period. Nothing in this press release should be construed as a profit forecast.

Corporate Communications		7
Ciudad Grupo Santander, edificio Arrecife, planta 2
28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). Tel. +34 91 2895211
[email protected]
www.santander.com - Twitter: @bancosantander

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Item 2

Financial Report First quarter 2019 Simple Personal Fair

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Financial report First quarter 2019 KEY CONSOLIDATED DATA 3 SANTANDER AIM AND CORPORATE CULTURE 4 INVESTOR DAY AND EVENTS SINCE QUARTER END 6 GROUP FINANCIAL INFORMATION 9 Group performance and main businesss areas 10 Income statement and balance sheet 13 Solvency ratios 21 Risk management 22 BUSINESS INFORMATION 25 Geographic businesses 28 Global businesses 40 RESPONSIBLE BANKING 43 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 44 THE SANTANDER SHARE 46 APPENDIX 48 Financial information 49 Alternative Performance Measures 66 Condensed consolidated financial statements 72 Glossary 75 Important information 76 All can customers, use Santander’s shareholders communication and the general channels public in all the countries in which the Bank operates.

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Key consolidated data

(1) In addition to IFRS measures, in this document we present certain financial measures that constitute alternative performance measures (“APMs”) as defined in the Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures issued by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 5 October 2015 (ESMA/2015/1415en) and other non-IFRS measures (“Non-IFRS Measures”), including the figures related to “underlying” results, which exclude items outside the ordinary course performance of our business, as they are recorded in the separate line of “net capital gains and provisions”, above the line of attributable profit to the parent. These underlying measures allow in our view a better period-on-period comparability. Further details on that line are provided in pages 13 and 14 of this report.

For further details of the APMs and Non-IFRS Measures used, including its definition or a reconciliation between any applicable management indicators and the financial data presented in the consolidated financial statements prepared under IFRS, please see 2018 Annual Financial Report, published as Relevant Fact on 28 February 2019, as well as the section “Alternative performance measures” of the annex to this report. These documents are available on Santander’s website (www.santander.com).

(2) 2019 and 2018 data applying the IFRS 9 transitional arrangements.

Note: The financial information in this report was approved by the Board of Directors, following a favourable report from the Audit Committee.

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SANTANDER AIM AND CORPORATE CULTURE

Strong corporate culture.

The Santander Way is our global culture, fully aligned to our corporate strategy. It includes our purpose, our aim, and how we do business.

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Generating confidence and operating responsibly, we contribute value to all our stakeholders

People In order to better identify the talent needed by the Group and quantify the skills required for the future, we are progressing with the Strategic Workforce Planning in more countries following the first pilot phase. We also completed the development and design of the Workday platform of the OneTeam programme and began the testing phase in the first countries which will launch the global talent management system this year, to strengthen our employer brand and improve the experience of our professionals. We strengthened The Santander Way, our global culture, with a new series of Leadership Commitments defined from the contribution of more than 300 colleagues from 28 Group units: be open and inclusive; inspire and implement transformation; lead by example; support the team in progressing. The first Young Leaders Summit was held, at which 280 very talented young people from all countries had the opportunity to expand their networking, strengthen their strategic vision and develop leadership, creativity and communication skills. Customers We continued our digital transformation in order to improve customer experience and loyalty. Progress was reflected in the increase of 1.8 million loyal customers and 6.5 million digital customers in the 12 months since March 2018, as well as being among the Top 3 in customer satisfaction in seven of our main countries. Of note among these measures were those performed by our consumer business, such as the signing in Mexico of an agreement with Suzuki to be its main financial partner, and in Germany, the agreement to acquire 51% of Hyundai Kia’s financial entity. We continued to strengthen our traditional branches and develop new models (SMART, Sper gil and Work Caf), while investing in new generation ATMs and in our Contact Centres. In digitalisation, progress was made in all countries in apps, platforms, products and services. Particularly noteworthy at the global level was the expansion of Openbank with its next launch of testing in Germany. The next two countries for Openbank’s expansion this year are the Netherlands and Portugal. Shareholders In the 2019 annual ordinary general meeting, held on 12 April, a new record quorum of 68.5% was reached, in which one million shareholders including ADR and CDI holders participated. In line with the Group’s digital strategy, online participation increased 73% compared to last year and blockchain technology was used to facilitate the participation of institutional and retail shareholders. We held an Investor Day in London, where the Group’s strategy was set out, announcing our medium-term objectives and how they will be executed. Santander is the first bank in the world to obtain AENOR’s certification for sustainable events management for its Investor Day, a recognition which has been given to its annual general meeting since 2017. The magazine Institutional Investor recognised Santander as one of Europe’s best companies. Our Chief Financial Officer was also recognised as one of the Top 3 CFOs in Europe, our head of shareholder and investor relations as among the Top 3 in that category and his team as the second best in its category. Community The World Bank recognised the Group’s leadership in climate change and gender equality matters. As regards the latter, we obtained the highest score for the second straight year in the Bloomberg Gender Index out of 230 companies, and we launched the ninth edition of the Santander UCLA Business School W50 programme for high performance training of female executives. The British International Finance magazine awarded Santander Mexico for the third time its prize as the Most Socially Responsible Bank in Mexico, as a part of the International Finance Banking Awards.

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INVESTOR DAY

The Group’s strategy and the medium-term objectives announced are part of our aim: ‘to be the best open financial services platform by acting responsibly and earning the lasting loyalty of all our stakeholders, guided by our Simple, Personal and Fair values in everything we do’.

Santander’s new medium-term Strategic Plan is based on three pillars for increasing profitability:

Europe (Spain, SCF, Portugal, Poland and the UK). European markets are unlikely to be integrated in the short term and interest rates may remain low for longer. In this context, the strategy will focus on changing cost management in the region, moving away from a country-by-country basis and working on a cross-border focus with higher operational integration and shared services, which we believe will allow us to generate c. EUR 1 billion of efficiencies.

Continued market share gains will be a priority, as well as increasing loyal customers as a percentage of active customers from 33% to 40% and the number of digital customers by 27%, while maintaining the Group’s top position in customer satisfaction. We aim to improve our RoTE to 12-14% and the efficiency ratio to a target of 47-49%.

Latin America. We believe this region offers a structural growth opportunity as it remains underbanked. Given this positive outlook, Santander expects to continue to increase capital deployment in the coming years.

The focus will be on continued market share gain thanks to the Bank’s digital proposition and loyalty strategy. The aim is to increase the number of loyal customers as a percentage of active customers from 28% to 31% and to increase digital customers by 45%.

We expect this strategy to result in higher growth and returns, targeting a RoTE of 20-22% and an improvement in the efficiency ratio to a target of 33-35%, supported by higher revenues and expected savings of approximately EUR 300 million from digital transformation processes and IT&O areas.

United States. We believe the US market shows attractive market dynamics, better risk-return and close links to Europe and Latin America. In this context, we think that Santander US is well positioned to capture the banking opportunity that the US offers as it has the necessary businesses in the country to build a solid regional franchise. It will leverage the Group’s scale (Digital and IT&O, Consumer/Wealth Management/SCIB business) and will pursue further integrations among US operations.

The strategy will continue to focus on market share gains, increasing the number of loyal and digital customers and improving profitability (target RoTE adjusted for excess of capital to 11-13%) and a target efficiency ratio of 39-41%.

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Transform our core banks (Supertankers). We aim for full digitalisation and to leverage common capabilities as a Group.

The growth of the existing global businesses of Corporate and Investment Banking (SCIB), Wealth Management (WM), and Consumer Finance is key to bring significant value to our local banks and to the Group. They create revenue synergies through know-how sharing and leverage economies of scale by increasing the Group’s purchasing power and by using a common approach to digitalisation.

The targets for these global business are revenue CAGR of approximately 8% for SCIB, around 10% for WM (including Insurance) and approximately 3% for Consumer Finance (including SCF, the UK, the US and Latin America).

The investment in global digital, technology and procurement will continue, in order to increase the competitiveness of the Group’s core banks, which are estimated to generate additional recurring efficiencies for the Group of close to EUR 1.2 billion, of which EUR 1 billion would come from IT&O and around EUR 220 million from shared services and others. By countries, we expect that approx. 85% of these efficiencies will be generated in Europe.

Accelerate through high growth ventures (Speedboats). The aim is to provide the Group’s core banks with new solutions while competing in the open market to attract new customers.

Openbank and Superdigital are being expanded to more countries. Simultaneously, Santander Global Payments businesses will be launched to capture the opportunities that exist within payment servicing, including two new global platforms, Global Merchant Services and Global Trade Services, that will complement One Pay FX.

Firstly, Santander is improving its capital allocation by natural re-weighting, as it is deploying more capital to the most profitable geographies. Minimum profitability thresholds are being set in all segments as well as a faster asset rotation in order to improve capital efficiency. Lastly, senior management remuneration is being further aligned with capital goals.

In summary, the Group aims to reach a target underlying RoTE of 13-15% and a target underlying RoRWA of 1.8-2.0%, which we believe should ultimately lead to higher capital generation capacity, reaching a target CET1 ratio of 11-12%, with a target pay-out ratio of 40-50%.

Finally, regarding People and Communities, we aim to become a top 10 company to work for in six of our geographies and financially empower 10 million customers between 2019 and 2025.

Our medium-term goals and targets

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After quarter end, the Group announced two transactions, in line with the strategy presented at the last Investor Day of better capital allocation to countries with greater growth and profitability and less capital intensive businesses.

Offer to acquire all shares of Banco Santander (México) S.A.

Santander communicated that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Crédit Agricole S.A. to build a global depositary and custody company

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GENERAL BACKGROUND

Grupo Santander carried out its business in an environment of slower economic growth. The softening of growth that began last spring, which was expected to lead to more sustainable growth rates, has in fact intensified over the last few months. The outlook for 2019 points to a drop in global growth from 3.7% in 2018 to 3.4%. The mature economies where the Bank operates grew less, particularly in Europe, while developing ones also slowed down. Monetary policies adopted a more cautious stance, against a backdrop of lower inflation and a downward bias on the economy, while interest rates remained stable in most countries.

The euro depreciated in the first quarter against most of the currencies in the countries where the Group operates.

(1) Year-on-year change 2018

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GROUP PERFORMANCE

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GROUP PERFORMANCE

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MAIN BUSINESS AREAS PERFORMANCE

(Greater detail on pages 26 to 42 and in the appendix)

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GRUPO SANTANDER RESULTS

Grupo Santander. Income statement

EUR million