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Spain’s Banco Santander Central Hispano’s transformation
from a provincial Spanish bank to global leader is nothing
short of remarkable. The past two decades have seen the
bank’s market capitalisation grow from approximately
US$3 billion to US$115 billion, and customer base from
75,000 to 66 million. During this time, the bank has
climbed from the seventh position to become the number
one bank in Spain and from the 152nd position globally
to being ranked the tenth largest bank in the world. The
bank’s success is arked by geographical diversification,
operations in nine countries account for more than a third
of its profits, and cross-border banking acquisitions, the
crowning glory of which was the acquisition of Britain’s
Abbey National in 2004, a deal worth US$15 billion.
Alliances too have played a key role in Santander’s rise,
such as the one with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). It had a
long standing alliance with RBS since 1988 which ended in
2004. However, recently in 2007 both banks came
together again to purchase Dutch Bank ABN AMRO, in
the biggest takeover in banking history. Santander got
ABN AMRO’s operations in Latin America, further
sealing its position in the region.
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