SPANISH BANK Santander is the fourth largest bank in the world when gauged by profits, and the eighth by stock market capitalisation. It is the biggest bank in the euro zone by market value.

Founded in 1857 in the northern Spanish city of Santander, it built up a strong presence in South America over the course of the next century or so and has a significant presence in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina.

In 1999 it merged with rival, Banco Central Hispanoamericano (BCH), the first major banking merger in Europe under the euro.

As well as its dominance in the Spanish market, it has also been steadily increasing its retail presence in Europe.

In 2004 it acquired Britain’s 155-year old Abbey National Bank.

In 2007 it was part of a consortium including Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis that took over Dutch bank ABN Amro. As part of the deal, Santander took over the Royal Bank of Brazil and the Italian bank Antonveneta.

This was followed by the acquisition of Britain’s Alliance Leicester and Bradford Bingley in 2008, giving it a significant retail presence in the UK and making it the third largest bank in the UK by deposits.

Last month it bought 318 UK branches from Royal Bank of Scotland.

The bank also has a significant presence in Portugal, Germany and the United States. Santander has 91 million customers and more than 13,000 branches.

The purchase of AIB’s 70 per cent stake in Polish bank, Bank Zachodni WBK yesterday, is the latest in a series of purchases by the bank this year.

Santander spent $2.5 billion to buy back a quarter of its Mexican business from Bank of America in June as well as its purchase of the RBS branches last month for approximately £1.7 billion.

Santander chairman Emilio Botin has spent more than $70 billion of acquisitions in his almost quarter of a century as Santander’s chairman.

The group posted net profits of €8.9 billion in 2009, boosted by its continued expansion into growth economies such as Brazil.