Grupo Santander, Spain's largest bank and a big player on Britain's high streets, is confident it can survive the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and says it is "well-positioned" to grow further despite turmoil in global financial markets.

"We can continue to deliver EPS (earnings per share) growth above the industry thanks to our strong balance sheet and low risk profile," Santander's chief financial officer Jose Antonio Alvarez said last week in a presentation at a Merrill Lynch Banking Conference.

Santander describes itself as one of the world's leading banks by market capitalisation and "number one in the eurozone".

The group became a household name in the UK when it acquired Abbey National, the former building society that transformed itself into a bank, for £9.5bn in 2004.

Santander has agreed to buy Alliance & Leicester and deposits and branches of Bradford & Bingley this year to make it the UK's third- largest lender by deposits.

Chairman Emilio Botin has made more than $60bn of acquisitions, helping Santander become Europe's second-biggest bank by market value.

Bradford & Bingley is one example of a failing lender the bank can buy cheaply to add value, Alvarez said. Stronger banks, such as Santander, have an opportunity to take advantage of their relative position to pick up business at better margins, he said.

"In the past, we lived in a sellers' market, in which there were too many buyers for every asset, which translated into the winner's curse," said Alvarez, adding that Santander can keep delivering earnings growth above the industry average.

"Winners will grow at the expense of weaker players."

City banking analysts say there is a number of reasons for Santander's confidence in these troubled times. It is predominantly a retail bank and its conservative investment strategies left it clear of exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage fiasco.

In addition, its profits have been bolstered by the acquisition of businesses in the fast-growing economies of Latin America.

Last year, the group emerged from its joint purchase - with Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis - of Dutch Bank ABN Amro, with ABN's asset management business in the region.

On the downside for Santander, the collapse of the Spanish property market will inevitably have an impact on its fortunes, although opinions on the extent to which it could damage the group's balance sheet vary widely.

In addition, forecasts of a sharp slowdown in the global economy could erode its Latin American profits and ambitions.

The bank is regarded as well diversified but its sheer pace of growth in the past 15 years could leave it vulnerable.

Possibly the group's greatest asset is Botin, who has been the driving force behind Santander's highly successful performance.

While strong management by one powerful individual has its benefits, questions about Santander's corporate governance have been raised in the past, not least by Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, at the time of the Abbey acquisition.

Santander said the Bradford & Bingley deal will improve earnings per share by 0.3% in 2009, 0.4% in 2010 and 0.6% in 2011.

The company also said that it would pay a second dividend from 2008 results of 0.135234 euros per share gross.

The dividend, 10% higher than the equivalent payment made last year, will be handed out on November 1, the bank said.

Santander, targeting a record profit of 10bn this year, expects to benefit from the financial rescue plans announced by the UK and Spanish governments.

Abbey is among eight lenders eligible for the UK's package, which includes an investment of about £50bn in banks, as well as funds and debt-refinancing provisions. Spain announced a plan worth as much as 50bn to buy assets from banks to encourage lending.

Santander, which is also set to become the third-largest UK lender by deposits, would benefit from the British government's need to spread aid across the financial system to help weaker rivals, said Simon Maughan, an analyst at MF Global Securities, a London-based investment firm. Botin affirmed as recently as last month the 151-year-old lender's profit target.

"When the government sets up this great big tent for the banks to shelter under, you've also got to be in it," said Maughan.

"It's a safety net for Santander more than anything."

Shares in Santander were caught up in the global stock market rout on Friday, sliding 97 euro cents, or 9.4%, to 9.33 in Madrid trading. The stock has fallen by more than 25% this year but that is much less than some of its UK rivals like Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.

A spokesman for Santander said the Spanish plan was "very positive" because it would help "strengthen the liquidity situation of the financial system".

While Abbey welcomed the UK plan as "an important step" to bringing greater stability, it joined HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered in saying it "has no plans" to recapitalise with government money.

Santander and other Spanish banks, which officials say were more conservatively regulated than elsewhere in Europe, have so far been spared the big write-downs and other losses reported by financial institutions in the United States and Britain. But the Bank of Spain said last week that banks could be forced into mergers, and analysts say smaller institutions and savings banks are most exposed to the liquidity drought in financial markets.

Spain's institutions are also exposed to a more traditional type of banking hazard, with homeowners struggling to pay back mortgages as a housing bubble deflates and the economy slows.