An article titled “A Spanish Bank Emerges as a Winner in Global Crisis” in the German newspaper Der Speigel site says that Banco Santander is the winner among European banks during this credit crisis.The article says:

“As financial institutions worldwide struggle to stay afloat, Banco Santander — now the euro zone’s largest bank by market value — is emerging as one of the few winners in the global economic crisis. With no exposure to toxic U.S. subprime assets, a diversified business spread across Europe and the Americas, and an estimated $68 billion in capital reserves, the bank, based in the port of Santander on Spain’s northern coast, is sailing past troubled rivals.”

Strengths:
No Exposure to US toxic assets
Bought retail branches of UK’s Bradford & Bingley cheap
Acquired British lender Alliance & Leicester cheap
Bought Britain’s Abbey National in 2004
Has Operations through out Latin America
Last year joined with RBS and Fortis to acquire ABN AMRO

Weaknesses:
Loss exposure due to slowdown in British and Spanish housing markets

Santander ADR:
Banco Santander trades on the NYSE with ticker STD.Dividend yield is 4.5%.

Overall STD seems to be a good buy when compared to other battered European banks.