The board of directors of Banco Santander has given the green light this Tuesday to the payment of an interim cash dividend of 0.127 euros per share charged to the results of 2026, which implies a 10% increase compared to the payment made the previous year, according to the entity's communication.
The disbursement will take place starting from November 2. Thus, the last day on which Santander shares will trade with the right to receive this dividend will be October 28. From October 29, the value will trade on an 'ex-dividend' basis and the record date for shareholders will be set for October 30.
The bank reminds that its current policy of shareholder remuneration is based on a target of distributing around 50% of the group's profit, approximately equally divided between cash dividends and share buyback programs.
In this context, the interim dividend for 2026 announced this Tuesday represents 25% of the profit generated by the group in the first half of the fiscal year and is accompanied by a share buyback of 1.8 billion euros that the entity is currently carrying out.
In total, Santander will allocate 3.7 billion euros to reward its shareholders based on the results of the first half of 2026, distributed almost 50% between the cash dividend and the share buyback program launched in August.
The entity has emphasized that, adding the share buyback program currently underway, the buybacks linked to the results of 2025 and the distribution associated with the sale of Santander Poland, it will have dedicated nearly 9 billion euros to its commitment to distribute at least 10 billion through share buybacks charged to the fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
The bank's president, Ana Botín, has highlighted that this increase in the cash dividend "represents the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth, with a 162% increase in the interim dividend per share since 2021."
In addition, the board of directors plans to maintain an ordinary policy of shareholder remuneration equivalent to around 50% of the group's profit based on the results from 2026 to 2028.
According to these forecasts, starting from the results of 2027, this policy will be structured around 35% of the group's profit in cash dividends and about 15% in share buybacks, which implies increasing the weight of cash payments within the total compensation.
Santander obtained a record profit of 7.328 billion euros at the end of the first half of 2026, 15% more year-on-year, and raised its revenues by 6%, to 30.847 billion.
Looking towards the end of the fiscal year, and excluding the effect of corporate operations in Poland, TSB, and Webster from 2025 and 2026, the entity maintains its growth targets both in profit and in revenues, as well as a CET1 ratio situated between 12.8% and 13%.