BANCO SANTANDER CHILE (SAN) 58.20 -$0.48 (-0.82%) 05:01AM (15 mins delay)

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Banco Santander Chile's (NYSE: SAN) Board yesterday decided to summon an Annual Ordinary Shareholder's Meeting on April 28, 2009 at the Bank's headquarters. Among other issues, the Board will propose to shareholders the payment of an annual dividend of Ch$1.13185985 per share. If approved, this dividend will represent 65% of 2008 net income attributable to shareholders and equal to last year's payout ratio. This would also represent a 6.3% increase in the gross dividend paid compared to last year.

Institutional Background

As per the latest public records published by the Superintendency of Banks of Chile for December 2008, Banco Santander Chile was the largest bank in terms of loans and deposits. The Bank has the highest credit ratings among all Latin American companies, with an A+ rating from Standard and Poor's, A+ by Fitch and A2 by Moody's, which are the same ratings assigned to the Republic of Chile. The stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SAN) and the Santiago Stock Exchange (SSE: Bsantander). The Bank's main shareholder is Santander, which controls 76.91% of Banco Santander Chile.

Banco Santander, S.A., (SAN.MC, STD.N), headquartered in Madrid, engages primarily in commercial banking with complementary activities in global wholesale banking, cards, asset management and insurance. Santander had over EUR 1.168 trillion in funds under management at the close of 2008 from more than 80 million customers served through 13,390 offices -- more branches than any other international bank. Founded in 1857, Santander is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America and has a significant presence in Western Europe and in the United Kingdom. In 2008, Santander registered EUR 8.9 billion in attributable net profit, an increase of 9% from 2007, excluding capital gains.

In Latin America, Santander manages over US$200 billion in business volumes (loans, deposits, mutual funds, pension funds and managed funds) through 6,089 branches. In 2008, Santander reported EUR 2.9 billion in net attributable income in Latin America, up 10% from the previous year.

    For more information, see www.santander.com.

    CONTACT INFORMATION
    Robert Moreno
    Manager, Investor Relations Department
    Banco Santander Chile
    Bandera 140 Piso 19,
    Santiago, Chile
    Tel: (562) 320-8284
    Fax: (562) 671-6554
    Email: rmorenoh@santander.cl
    Website: www.santander.cl

SOURCE Banco Santander Chile