The main markets reported gains in the year. In Spain, the Ibex 35 rose 11.8% and, in Europe, the DJ Stoxx 50 rose 23.3%.

The European banking sector, in a context of economic deceleration, was influenced by the change in the stance of monetary policies of the main central banks, mainly the European Central Bank, which delayed interest rate hikes beyond 2020. Optimism regarding a potential trade deal between China and the United States drove share prices at the end of the year.

As such, the leading European banking index, DJ Stoxx Banks, increased 8.2% while the MSCI World Banks index rose 16.4%. The Santander share price ended the year at EUR 3.730, 6.1% lower, as it was additionally affected by some uncertainties in regions where Santander operates, such as Argentina following the presidential elections, Chile due to social protests, the UK due to Brexit, and Poland because of the ruling on Swiss franc mortgages.

As at 31 December 2019, Santander was the second largest bank in the Eurozone by market capitalisation and the 25th in the world among financial entities (EUR 61,986 million).

The share’s weighting in the DJ Stoxx 50 was 1.5% and 7.1% in the DJ Stoxx Banks. In the domestic market, its weight in the Ibex 35 as at end-December was 12.5%.

A total of 19,334 million shares were traded in the year for an effective value of EUR 77,789 million, the largest figure among the shares that comprise the EuroStoxx (liquidity ratio of 118%).

The daily trading volume was 76 million shares with an effective value of EUR 305 million.

Source: Bloomberg and Madrid Stock Exchange at 31/12/2019.