13 Best Performing Bank Stocks So Far In 2025

2. Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Year-to-Date Performance: 35.09%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 15

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN), or Santander Group, is a Spanish multinational banking and financial services company. It has commercial banks in 15 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay, the US, the United Kingdom, China, and Morocco. As one of the largest banking groups in the world, the company has approximately 165 million customers. Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) ranks among the top-performing stocks in the banking sector.

Overall, the company is focused on simplifying and improving its product offerings and service quality. These efforts have helped Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) grow its customer base by 8 million in 2024 to reach 173 million. In 2024, the company reported an attributable profit of EUR 12.57 billion, a 14% increase compared to 2023. This achievement was supported by strong revenue growth across all global businesses and regions. Additionally, effective cost management helped Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) achieve the best efficiency ratio in 15 years.

In the US, the company is looking to enhance its digital banking capabilities. On February 3, Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) reported that the Openbank digital bank platform surpassed $2 billion in total deposits since going to market in the United States in Q4 2024. The company is effectively boosting national deposit acquisition to support its leading Auto lending franchise and reach its goal of becoming a national, digital bank in the US. Openbank, Banco Santander, S.A.’s (NYSE:SAN) digital-first banking platform, is already Europe’s largest 100% digital bank by deposits.