Santander recibe 620 millones de AXA por su pleito en Reino Unido

Santander has received 620 million euros from AXA, following a favourable judgment by British courts in a long-standing dispute over insurance policies in the UK. The settlement occurred after a first resolution in summer 2025 and a subsequent payment by Santander to AXA. This was the latest in a series of court battles that began in 2017 due to disagreements over the allocation of responsibilities for compensation and costs related to payment protection insurance (PPI) policies.

The repayment, which excludes other outstanding amounts, took place on October 5th when AXA made a provisional payment of 525 million pounds (618.9 million euros) to Santander. This interim payment leaves some outstanding debts between the two parties, which may need to be resolved in court if an agreement cannot be reached.

AXA has already submitted a new appeal to the Court of Appeal seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. It is expected that a decision on this appeal will be made later this year. If AXA's request is denied, it may directly appeal to the Supreme Court. The dispute between Santander and AXA began in 2017 concerning policies issued before 2005 by the current AXA France, which AXA acquired from Genworth Financial in September 2015.

The latest quarterly accounts for Santander show an increase in the group's trading fund to almost 19,000 million euros, following the formalization of the acquisitions of Webster in the US and TSB in the UK. The trading fund closed at 18,923 million euros in September, up from 11,958 million in December.

Webster's contribution to the trading fund amounts to almost 7,500 million euros, which includes the business of Autos acquired in the US as well as the 5,553 million euros (still provisional) added from the Webster acquisition. This reflects future economic benefits expected from combining the businesses. These benefits include economies of scale, deposit base complementarity, improved funding structure and cost, synergies in cost and growth opportunities for income.

In the UK, the trading fund stands at 1,408 million euros, including Santander UK and TSB, which contributed 777 million euros (still provisional).