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Santander Central Hispano Group is firmly committed to focusing on and implementing not just one but all of the principles addressed by The Global Compact (GC). For the Group, the implementation of these principles is one of its priority challenges, as emphasized by its Chairman during the presentation at the University of Salamanca of the Corporate Social Responsibility Plan formulated by the Bank in November 2002. The Global Compact is precisely the pivot around which our CSR plan revolves.

This comprehensive project creates new qualities in every area and sphere of our activities, based on our conviction that a company will be increasingly assessed not just on its business achievements but also in terms of the values that should be paramount for society, i.e., reputation and conduct, knowledge resources, internal communication, on-going training and incentives, enhancement of the combination of professional and family life, as well as environmental safeguards. The group is convinced that customers, shareholders and society as a whole will consider the overall promotion of these principles inside and outside the company as added value. It will surely enhance the idea of sustainability and bear witness to the Bank?s interest in being at the forefront of the search for a better and healthier society, as we have proved, starting with our own business community.

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategic Plan

Reminiscent of the Compact, the strategic plan is based on nine specific measures.

1. The Global Compact. Having focused on the principles of the Compact, the Bank is participating in its diffusion and implementation. In this connection it will demand from its supplier’s world-wide a “social and environmental commitment” as proof of their observance of these principles. The aim of this is to promote a growing chain of companies adhering to its philosophy. COORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SANTANDER GROUP
(Page 8)

2. CSR Department. Within its Communication and Research Division, the Bank has created a CSR Department which co-ordinates the Group’s activities in this field and reports quarterly to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. COORPORATE GOVERNANCE and OUR BRAND (Pages 12 to 19)

3. Work and family. We are committed to reconcile these two concepts. Within its own confines, the Bank has decided to create a nursery in the Financial Complex it is presently building in Boadilla, Madrid, as well as to implement the European Commission’s “Optima” Program, which includes 29 support measures aimed at the professional promotion of female employees. SANTANDER AND ITS EMPLOYEES (Pages 58 to 60)

4. Co-participation of employees. In order to foster the involvement of its employees in solidarity projects, to which employees may make voluntary contributions. The Bank undertakes to make up these contributions to the limit considered appropriate for each year and to support the volunteer activities of its employees, providing the necessary time for such purpose. SANTANDER AND THE COMMUNITY (Pages 80 and 81)

5. Training in CSR. In line with the obligation of spreading the principles of the GC among its employees, making them aware of and training them in the implementation of projects of this type, the Bank will launch a crash-course training plan in CSR and a specialized program for risk analysts. SANTANDER AND ITS EMPLOYEES (Page 55)

6. Environmental risk. In order to control the impact on the environment of the projects and companies financed by it, the bank will expand and systematize its “environment risk analysis” when studying and evaluating all customer credit operations. Therefore, the risk management system will assess the environmental parameters in line with the most advanced action in this respect. SANTANDER AND ITS EMPLOYEES (Page 55), SANTANDER AND THE ENVIRONEMENT (Pages 96 and 97)

7. Environmental certificates. The Bank intends to obtain environmental certification for its main work centers in Spain and abroad, starting with the Boadilla Financial Complex. This will involve defining, measuring and controlling environmental responsibility aspects such as the separation of waste for recycling, as well as the reduction of energy consumption and quality of artificial light in the buildings. SANTANDER AND THE ENVIRONEMENT (Page 92)

8. Environmental enhancement. In order to minimize the environmental impact of its own activities, the Bank will put into operation a series of highly specific measures: reduction of paper used in customer correspondence; use of concentrated printing and copying systems (multi-function machines) in order to save paper and reduce electricity consumption; installation of low-consumption appliances and light bulbs, etc. among other activities to be applied generally for the first time and which, bearing in mind the size of the Group, will have a highly significant overall impact. SANTANDER AND THE ENVIRONEMENT (Page 93)

9. Social marketing. The Bank believes in activities of this type as a channel which combines our business interests with support for the most needy. And in this sense the Bank will continue promoting campaigns such as that successfully developed in Spain to encourage the domiciliation of salary checks, by which SCH will contribute two million euros to the Red Cross assigned to humanitarian programs in developing countries. Furthermore, in 2003, the bank conducted another two marketing campaign. The first one “Doctors without Frontiers” (MSF) which enable a million children to be vaccinate and the second one conducted in Mexico to various educational projects developed by UNICEF. SANTANDER AND THE COMMUNITY (Pages 82)

Results

a. Santander and its customers (page 31)

Awards and recognitions (Page 31)

Costumer satisfaction surveys (Page 32)

Complaints (Page 33)

b. Santander and its Shareholders (page 43, 44 and 45)

accionistas@gruposantander.com

Shareholder Attention Line 902 11 17 11

Personal visits and forums

Reports. The Shareholders Area issued close to 400 reports in 2003

The Santander’s website (www.gruposantader.com)

c. Santander and its employees (page 61)

In-house magazine “Character” for its currents and retired employees in Spain. The Print run is 150. 000 copies

More than 20 in-house magazines

On line publications:

“Santander al Día”

“Buenos Días”

“America noticias”

d. Santander and its suppliers (Pages 64 to 69)

Adherence chain (Page 69)

e. Santander and the Community (Pages 72 to 87)

Survey of the 2002 CSR Report (Page 104)

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SANTANDER GROUP

You will find a comprehensive resume of our Strategic Plan with the principles performances of 2003 and our objectives for 2004 (Pages 10 and 11).

Grupo Santander is part of the GC Spanish Committee and had intervened at the Global Compact’s third International Learning Forum Meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
In the implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility Plan, the Group has undertaken numerous activities. Some noteworthy examples are Social Responsibility Report 2003 which is published in Spanish and English, as well as Portuguese and Brazilian (for Portugal and Brazil). The annual report of Grupo Santander includes an equivalence table between the contents of the annual report and the GRI indicators. The 2003 Sustainability Report is a separate document from the 2003 Annual Report and has been audited externally.

Also mention the development of policy promoting the GC among our suppliers through an adherence change. Suppliers, as co-participants in the development of Group’s activities, were invited to adhere to the UN’s Global Compact.

As an example, 50% of our Santander Colombia suppliers responded positively. This percentage exceeds 75% in Puerto Rico.

Special attention is due in the case of security companies. The bank, in the context of its commitment to respecting human rights, requires that companies supplying security services give their employees training that pays due attention to fundamental rights and individual freedoms.

Also worthy of mention is the investment made by our Group in socio-cultural action, which in 2003 totalled 71.1 million euros. This amount was equivalent to 2, 7% of our net attributable income, the same percentage is in 2002 and best reflects our commitment to the community as a whole. In 2003, 72% of our investment was allocated to the university sector through three projects of maximum importance to us: The University Co-operation Agreements, the UNIVERSIA Portal and the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library.

As a result of all this activity, the SAN share remains in the two leading indexes in this field: Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE 4 Good.