Santander kept up its business growth across almost all its markets

Loans grew 4% year-on-year (excluding the exchange rate impact) in eight of the ten core units. Of note were all the developing markets which grew 14%.
Customer funds rose 4% year-on-year (excluding the exchange rate impact), also with growth in eight of the ten core units, with rises in demand and time deposits and mutual funds remained stable affected by markets environment.

Europe

NORTH AMERICA

	% Lending	% Funds
USA	10%	7%
MEXICO	4%	4%

% over operating areas. December 2018.

2018 versus 2017. % CHANGE IN CONSTANT EUROS

Gross loans and advances to customers excluding reverse repos.

Customer deposits excluding repos + mutual funds.

MILLION EUROS

		% change vs. 2017
	2018	EUR	Constant EUR
Gross loans and advances to customers*	873,917	2.3	3.8
Customer deposits**	747,736	3.2	4.8
Mutual funds	157,888	(4.5)	(0.4)
Customer funds	905,624	1.7	3.8

*Excluding reverse repos.
**Excluding repos.

The commercial transformation is driving growth in loyal and digital customers:

Santander’s strategy remained focus on customer loyalty. The number of loyal customers continued to rise in the year to close to 20 million, 2.6 million more than at the end of 2017 (+15%), with individuals as well as companies rising.
The number of digital customers rose by 6.6 million in 2018 (+26% in the last 12 months) to 32 million, underscoring the strength of our multichannel strategy. Penetration of digital clients, the use of mobile devices, and the weight of digital sales are growing notably.

(*) Banco Popular customer integration in March 2018.