These require implementing and embedding effective controls and monitoring within our business and on-going changes to systems and operations. Financial crime is continually evolving and subject to increasingly stringent regulatory oversight and focus. Even known threats can never be fully eliminated, and there will be instances in which we may be used by other parties to engage in money laundering or other illegal or improper activities. To the extent we fail to fully comply with applicable laws and regulations, the relevant government agencies to which we report have the authority to impose fines and other penalties on us. In addition, our business and reputation could suffer if customers use our banking network for money laundering or other illegal or improper purposes.

While we review our relevant counterparties’ internal policies and procedures with respect to such matters, to a large degree we rely on our counterparties to maintain and properly apply their own appropriate anti-money laundering procedures. Such measures, procedures and compliance may not be completely effective in preventing third parties from using our and our counterparties’ services as conduits for money laundering (including illegal cash operations) or other illegal activities without our and our counterparties’ knowledge. If we are associated with, or even accused of being associated with, or become a party to, money laundering or other illegal activities, our reputation could suffer and/or we could become subject to fines, sanctions and/or legal enforcement (including being added to any “blacklists” that would prohibit certain parties from engaging in transactions with us), any one of which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results,business, financial condition and prospects.results of operations.

The preparation of our tax returns requires the use of estimates and interpretations of complex tax laws and regulations, and is subject to review by taxing authorities. We are subject to the income tax laws of the United States and certain foreign countries. These tax laws are complex and subject to different interpretations by the taxpayer and relevant governmental taxing authorities, which are sometimes subject to prolonged evaluation periods until a final resolution is reached. In establishing a provision for income tax expense and filing returns, we must make judgments and interpretations about the application of these inherently complex tax laws. If the judgments, estimates, and assumptions we use in preparing our tax returns are subsequently found to be incorrect, there could be a material effect on our results of operations.

The legislatures and tax authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate regularly enact reforms to the tax and other assessment regimes to which we and our customers are subject. Such reforms include changes in the rate of assessments and, occasionally, enactment of temporary taxes, the proceeds of which are earmarked for designated governmental purposes. The effects of these changes and any other changes that result from enactment of additional tax reforms cannot be quantified and there can be no assurance that such reforms would not have an adverse effect upon our business. Aspects of recent U.S. federal income tax reform such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 limit or eliminate certain income tax deductions, including the home mortgage interest deduction, the deduction of interest on home equity loans and a limitation on the deductibility of property taxes. These limitations and eliminations could affect demand for some of our retail banking products and the valuation of assets securing certain of our loans adversely, increasing our provision for loan lossescredit loss expense and reducing profitability.

Risks arising from changes in credit quality and the recoverability of loans and amounts due from counterparties are inherent in a wide range of our businesses. Non-performing or low credit quality loans have in the past negatively impacted and can continue to

negatively impact our results of operations. In particular, the amount of our reported NPLs may increase in the future as a result of growth in our total loan portfolio, including as a result of loan portfolios we may acquire in the future, or factors beyond our control, such as adverse changes in the credit quality of our borrowers and counterparties or a general deterioration in economic conditions in the United States, the impact of political events, events affecting certain industries or events affecting financial markets. There can be no assurance that we will be able to effectively control the level of the NPLs in our loan portfolio.

Our loan and lease loss reserves are based on our current assessment of and expectations concerning various factors affecting the quality of our loan portfolio. These factors include, among other things, our borrowers’ financial condition, repayment abilities and repayment intentions, the realizable value of any collateral, the prospects for support from any guarantor, government macroeconomic policies, interest rates and the legal and regulatory environment. As the last global financial crisis demonstrated, manyMany of these factors are beyond our control. As a result, there is no precise method for predicting loan and credit losses, and there can be no assurance that our current or future loan and lease loss reserves will be sufficient to cover actual losses. If our assessment of and expectations concerning the above-mentioned factors differ from actual developments, if the quality of our total loan portfolio deteriorates for any reason, including an increase in lending to individuals and small and medium enterprises, a volume increase in our credit card portfolio or the introduction of new products, or if future actual losses exceed our estimates of incurredexpected losses, we may be required to increase our loan and lease loss reserves, which may adversely affect us. If we were unable to control or reduce the level of our non-performing or poor credit quality loans, this also could have a material adverse effect on us.

In addition, the FASB’s ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments was adopted by the Company on January 1, 2020 and increased our ACL by approximately $2.5 billion. This standard replaces existing incurred loss impairment guidance and establishes a single allowance framework for financial assets carried at amortized cost. UponAs a result of the adoption of this standard, companies must recognize credit losses on these assets equal to management’s estimate of credit losses over the assets’ remaining expected lives. It is possible that our ongoing reported earnings and lending activity will be impacted negatively in periods following adoptionas a result of the application of this ASU. See “Changes in accounting standards could impact reported earnings” below.

Our fixed ratefixed-rate loan and investment portfolios are subject to prepayment risk, which results from the ability of a borrower or issuer to pay a debt obligation prior to maturity. Generally, in a low interest rate environment, prepayment activity increases, and this reduces the weighted average life of our earning assets and could have a material adverse effect on us. We would also be required to amortize net premiums into income over a shorter period of time, thereby reducing the corresponding asset yield and net interest income. Prepayment risk also has a significant adverse impact on credit card and collateralized mortgage loans, since prepayments could shorten the weighted average life of these assets, which may result in a mismatch in our funding obligations and reinvestment at lower yields. Prepayment risk is inherent in our commercial activity, and an increase in prepayments could have a material adverse effect on us.

The value of the collateral securing our loan portfolio may fluctuate or decline due to factors beyond our control, including macroeconomic factors affecting the United States. The value of the collateral securing our loan portfolio may be adversely affected by force majeure events such as natural disasters, particularly in locations in which a significant portion of our loan portfolio is composed of real estate loans. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods may cause widespread damage, which could impair the asset quality of our loan portfolio and have an adverse impact on the economy of the affected region. We also may not have sufficiently recent information on the value of collateral, which may result in an inaccurate assessment of impairment losses of our loans secured by such collateral. If any of the above were to occur, we may need to make additional provisions to cover actual impairment losses on our loans, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, auto industry technology changes, accelerated by environmental rules, could affect our auto consumer business, particularly the residual values of leased vehicles, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We are exposed to counterparty risk in addition to credit risks associated with lending activities. Counterparty risk may arise from, for example, investing in securities of third parties, entering into derivatives contracts under which counterparties have obligations to make payments to us or executing securities, futures, currency or commodity trades that fail to settle at the required time due to non-delivery by the counterparty or systems failure by clearing agents, clearinghouses or other financial intermediaries.

We routinely transact with counterparties in the financial services industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, mutual funds, hedge funds and other institutional clients. We rely on information provided by or on behalf of counterparties, such as financial statements, and we may rely on representations of our counterparties as to the accuracy and completeness of that information. Defaults by, and even rumors or questions about the solvency of, certain financial institutions and the financial services industry generally have led to market-wide liquidity problems and could lead to losses or defaults by other institutions. Many routine transactions we enter into expose us to significant credit risk in the event of default by one of our significant counterparties.

Liquidity risk is the risk that we either do not have available sufficient financial resources to meet our obligations as they become due or can secure them only at excessive cost. This risk is inherent in any retail and commercial banking business and can be heightened by a number of enterprise-specific factors, including over-reliance on a particular source of funding, changes in credit ratings or market-wide phenomena such as market dislocation. While we implement liquidity management processes to seek to mitigate and control these risks, unforeseen systemic market factors in particular make it difficult to eliminate these risks completely. Adverse and continued constraints in the supply of liquidity, including inter-bank lending, may materially and adversely affect the cost of funding our business, and extreme liquidity constraints may affect our current operations and our ability to fulfill regulatory liquidity requirements as well as limit growth possibilities.

Our cost of obtaining funding is directly related to prevailing market interest rates and our credit spreads. Increases in interest rates and our credit spreads can significantly increase the cost of our funding. Changes in our credit spreads are market-driven, and may be influenced by market perceptions of our creditworthiness. Changes to interest rates and our credit spreads occur continuously and may be unpredictable and highly volatile.

If wholesale markets financing ceases to be available, or becomes excessively expensive, we may be forced to raise the rates we pay on deposits, with a view to attracting more customers, and/or to sell assets, potentially at depressed prices. The persistence or worsening of these adverse market conditions or an increase in base interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our ability to access liquidity and cost of funding.

We rely, and will continue to rely, primarily on deposits to fund lending activities. The ongoing availability of this type of funding is sensitive to a variety of factors outside our control, such as general economic conditions and the confidence of depositors in the economy in general, and the financial services industry in particular, as well as competition among banks for deposits. Any of these factors could significantly increase the amount of deposit withdrawals in a short period of time, thereby reducing our ability to access deposit funding in the future on appropriate terms, or at all. If these circumstances were to arise, they could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We anticipate that our customers will continue to make deposits (particularly demand deposits and short-term time deposits) in the near future, and we intend to maintain our emphasis on the use of banking deposits as a source of funds. The short-term nature of some deposits could cause liquidity problems for us in the future if deposits are not made in the volumes we expect or are not renewed. If a substantial number of our depositors withdraw their demand deposits, or do not roll over their time deposits upon maturity, we may be materially and adversely affected.

There can be no assurance that, in the event of a sudden or unexpected shortage of funds in the banking system, we will be able to maintain levels of funding without incurring high funding costs, a reduction in the term of funding instruments, or the liquidation of certain assets. If this were to happen, we could be materially adversely affected.

Credit ratings affect the cost and other terms upon which we are able to obtain funding. Rating agencies regularly evaluate us, and their ratings of our debt are based on a number of factors, including our financial strength and conditions affecting the financial services industry generally.

Any downgrade in our or Santander's debt credit ratings would likely increase our borrowing costs and require us to post additional collateral or take other actions under some of our derivatives contracts, and could limit our access to capital markets and adversely affect our commercial business. For example, a ratings downgrade could adversely affect our ability to sell or market certain of our products, engage in certain longer-term and derivatives transactions and retain customers, particularly customers who need a minimum rating threshold in order to invest. In addition, under the terms of certain of our derivatives contracts, we may be required to maintain a minimum credit rating or terminate the contracts. Any of these results of a ratings downgrade, in turn, could reduce our liquidity and have an adverse effect on us, including our operating results and financial condition.

We conduct a significant number of our material derivatives activities through Santander and Santander UK. We estimate that, as of December 31, 2018,2020, if all of the rating agencies were to downgrade Santander’s or Santander UK’s long-term senior debt ratings, we would be required to post additional collateral pursuant to derivatives and other financial contracts. Refer to further discussion in Note 1413 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

While certain potential impacts of these downgrades are contractual and quantifiable, the full consequences of a credit rating downgrade are inherently uncertain, as they depend on numerous dynamic, complex and inter-related factors and assumptions, including market conditions at the time of any downgrade, whether any downgrade of a company's long-term credit rating precipitates downgrades to its short-term credit rating, and assumptions about the potential behaviors of various customers, investors and counterparties. Actual outflows could be higher or lower than this hypothetical example depending on certain factors, including which credit rating agency downgrades our credit rating, any management or restructuring actions that could be taken to reduce cash outflows and the potential liquidity impact from loss of unsecured funding (such as from money market funds) or loss of secured funding capacity. Although unsecured and secured funding stresses are included in our stress testing scenarios and a portion of our total liquid assets is held against these risks, it is still the case that a credit rating downgrade could have a material adverse effect on the Company, the Bank, and SC.

In addition, if we were required to cancel our derivatives contracts with certain counterparties and were unable to replace those contracts, our market risk profile could be altered.

Market risk refers to the probability of variations in our net interest income or in the market value of our assets and liabilities due to volatility of interest rates, exchange rates or equity prices. Changes in interest rates affect the following areas, of our business, among others:

Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors beyond our control, including increased regulation of the financial sector, monetary policies, domestic and international economic and political conditions, and other factors. Variations in interest rates could affect our net interest income, which comprises the majority of our revenue, reducing our growth rate and potentially resulting in losses. This is a result of the different effect a change in interest rates may have on the interest earned on our assets and the interest paid on our borrowings. In addition, we may incur costs (which, in turn, will impact our results) as we implement strategies to reduce future interest rate exposure.

Increases in interest rates may reduce the volume of loans we originate. Sustained high interest rates have historically discouraged customers from borrowing and have resulted in increased delinquencies in outstanding loans and deterioration in the quality of assets. Increases in interest rates may also reduce the propensity of our customers to prepay or refinance fixed-rate loans. Increases in interest rates may reduce the value of our financial assets and the collateral used to secure our loans, and may reduce gains or require us to record losses on sales of our loans or securities.

In addition, we may experience increased delinquencies in a low interest rate environment when such an environment is accompanied by high unemployment and recessionary conditions.

We are exposed to foreign exchange rate risk as a result of mismatches between assets and liabilities denominated in different currencies. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between currencies may negatively affect our earnings and value of our assets and securities.

Some of our investment management services fees are based on financial market valuations of assets certain of our subsidiaries manage or hold in custody for clients. Changes in these valuations can affect noninterest income positively or negatively, and ultimately affect our financial results. Significant changes in the volume of activity in the capital markets, and in the number of assignments we are awarded, could also affect our financial results.

We are also exposed to equity price risk in our investments in equity securities. The performance of financial markets may cause changes in the value of our investment and trading portfolios. The volatility of world equity markets due to economic uncertainty and sovereign debt concerns has had a particularly strong impact on the financial sector. Continued volatility may affect the value of our investments in equity securities and, depending on their fair value and future recovery expectations, could become a permanent impairment which would be subject to write-offs against our results. To the extent any of these risks materialize, our net interest income and the market value of our assets and liabilities could be materially adversely affected.

In recent years, financial markets have been subject to volatility and the resulting widening of credit spreads. We have material exposures to securities and other investments that are recorded at fair value and are therefore exposed to potential negative fair value adjustments. Asset valuations in future periods, reflecting then-prevailing market conditions, may result in negative changes in the fair values of our financial assets, and also may translate into increased impairments. In addition, the value we ultimately realize on

In addition, to the extent fair values are determined using financial valuation models, such values may be inaccurate or subject to change, as the data used by such models may not be available or may become unavailable due to changes in market conditions, particularly for illiquid assets and in times of economic instability. In such circumstances, our valuation methodologies require us to make assumptions, judgments and estimates in order to establish fair value, and reliable assumptions are difficult to make and are inherently uncertain. In addition, valuation models are complex, making them inherently imperfect predictors of actual results. Any resulting impairments or write-downs could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We enter into derivatives transactions for trading purposes as well as for hedging purposes. We are subject to market, credit and operational risks associated with these transactions, including basis risk (the risk of loss associated with variations in the spread between the asset yield and the funding and/or hedge cost) and credit or default risk (the risk of insolvency or other inability of the counterparty to a particular transaction to perform its obligations thereunder, including providing sufficient collateral).

The execution and performance of derivatives transactions depend on our ability to maintain adequate control and administration systems and to hire and retain qualified personnel. Moreover, our ability to adequately monitor, analyze and report derivatives transactions continues to depend, to a great extent, on our IT systems. These factors further increase the risks associated with these transactions and could have a material adverse effect on us.

In addition, disputes with counterparties may arise regarding the terms or the settlement procedures of derivatives contracts, including with respect to the value of underlying collateral, which could cause us to incur unexpected costs, including transaction, operational, legal and litigation costs, or result in credit losses, all of which may impair our ability to manage our risk exposure from these products.

The management of risk is an integral part of our activities. We seek to monitor and manage our risk exposure through a variety of separate but complementary financial, credit, market, operational, compliance and legal reporting systems. Although we employ a broad and diversified set of risk monitoring and risk mitigation techniques, such techniques and strategies may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all economic market environments or against all types of risk, including risks that we fail to identify or anticipate.

We rely on quantitative models to measure risks and estimate certain financial values. Models may be used in such processes as determining the pricing of various products, grading loans and extending credit, measuring interest rate and other market risks, predicting losses, assessing capital adequacy, and calculating economic and regulatory capital levels, as well as estimating the value of financial instruments and balance sheet items. Poorly designed or implemented models present the risk that our business decisions based on information incorporating models will be adversely affected due to the inadequacy of that information. Also, information we provide to the public or our regulators based on poorly designed or implemented models could be inaccurate or misleading.

Some of our qualitative tools and metrics for managing risk are based on our use of observed historical market behavior. We apply statistical and other tools to these observations to arrive at quantifications of our risk exposures. These qualitative tools and metrics may fail to predict future risk exposures. These risk exposures could, for example, arise from factors we did not anticipate or correctly evaluate in our statistical models. This would limit our ability to manage our risks. Our losses therefore could be significantly greater than the historical measures indicate. In addition, our quantified modeling does not take all risks into account. Our more qualitative approach to managing those risks could prove insufficient, exposing us to material unanticipated losses. We could face adverse consequences as a result of decisions based on models that are poorly developed, implemented, or used, or as a result of a modeled outcome being misunderstood or used of for purposes for which it was not designed. In addition, if existing or potential customers believe our risk management is inadequate, they could take their business elsewhere or seek to limit transactions with us. This could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, operating results, financial condition, and prospects.

As a commercial bank, one of the main types of risks inherent in our business is credit risk. For example, an important feature of our credit risk management is to employ an internal credit rating system to assess the particular risk profile of a customer. Since this process involves detailed analyses of the customer, taking into account both quantitative and qualitative factors, it is subject to human and IT systems errors. In exercising their judgment on the current and future credit risk of our customers, our employees may not always assign an accurate credit rating, which may result in our exposure to higher credit risks than indicated by our risk rating system.

We have been refining our credit policies and guidelines to address potential risks associated with particular industries or types of customers. However, we may not be able to timely detect all possible risks before they occur or, due to limited tools available to us, our employees may not be able to implement them effectively, which may increase our credit risk. Failure to effectively implement,

Market turmoil and economic recession could materially and adversely affect the liquidity, businesses and/or financial condition of our borrowers, which could in turn increase our NPL ratios, impair our loan and other financial assets and result in decreased demand for borrowings in general. In addition, our customers may further decrease their risk tolerance to non-deposit investments such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds significantly, which would adversely affect our fee and commission income. Any of the conditions described above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face substantial competition in all parts of our business from numerous banks and non-bank providers of financial services, including in originating loans and attracting deposits, providing customer service, the quality and range of products and services, technology, interest rates and overall reputation, and we expect competitive conditions to continue to intensify. Our competition comes principally from other domestic and foreign banks, mortgage banking companies, consumer finance companies, insurance companies and other lenders and purchasers of loans.

There has been a trend towards consolidation in the banking industry, which has created larger and stronger banks with which we must now compete. Some of our competitors are substantially larger than we are, which may give those competitors advantages such as a more diversified product and customer base, the ability to reach more customers and potential customers, operational efficiencies, lower-cost funding and larger branch networks. Many competitors are also focused on cross-selling their products, which could affect our ability to maintain or grow existing customer relationships or require us to offer lower interest rates or fees on our lending products or higher interest rates on deposits. There can be no assurance that increased competition will not adversely affect our growth prospects and therefore our operations. We also face competition from non-bank competitors such as brokerage companies, department stores (for some credit products), leasing and factoring companies, mutual fund and pension fund management companies and insurance companies.

Non-traditional providers of banking services, such as financial technology companies, internet based e-commerce providers, mobile telephone companies and internet search engines, may offer and/or increase their offerings of financial products and services directly to customers. These non-traditional providers of banking services currently have an advantage over traditional providers because they are not subject to the same regulatory or legislative requirements to which we are subject. Several of these competitors may have long operating histories, large customer bases, strong brand recognition and significant financial, marketing and other resources. They may adopt more aggressive pricing and rates and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure and marketing.

New competitors may enter the market or existing competitors may adjust their services with unique product or service offerings or approaches to providing banking services. If we are unable to compete successfully with current and new competitors, or if we are unable to anticipate and adapt our offerings to changing banking industry trends, including technological changes, our business may be adversely affected. In addition, our failure to anticipate or adapt to emerging technologies or changes in customer behavior effectively, including among younger customers, could delay or prevent our access to new digital-based markets, which would in turn have an adverse effect on our competitive position and business. Furthermore, the widespread adoption of new technologies, including cryptocurrencies and payment systems, could require substantial expenditures to modify or adapt our existing products and services as we continue to grow our internet and mobile banking capabilities. Our customers may choose to conduct business or offer products in areas that may be considered speculative or risky. Such new technologies and the rise in customer use of internet and mobile banking platforms in recent years could negatively impact our investments in bank premises, equipment and personnel for our branch network. The persistence or acceleration of this shift in demand towards internet and mobile banking may necessitate changes to our retail distribution strategy, which may include closing and/or selling certain branches and restructuring our remaining branches and workforce. These actions could lead to losses on these assets and increased expenditures to renovate, reconfigure or close a number of our remaining branches or otherwise reform our retail distribution channel. Furthermore, our failure to keep pace with innovation or to swiftly and effectively implement such changes to our distribution strategy could have an adverse effect on our competitive position.

If our customer service levels were perceived by the market to be materially below those of our competitors, we could lose existing and potential business. If we are not successful in retaining and strengthening customer relationships, we may lose market share, incur losses on some or all of our activities or fail to attract new deposits or retain existing deposits, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results,business, financial condition and prospects.

We have made business acquisitions for which it is possible that the goodwill which has been attributed to those businesses may have to be written down if our valuation assumptions are required to be reassessed as a result of any deterioration in the business’ underlying profitability, asset quality or other relevant matters. Impairment testing with respect to goodwill is performed annually, more frequently if impairment indicators are present, and includes a comparison of the carrying amount of the reporting unit with its fair value. If the carrying value of the reporting unit is higher than the fair value, the impairment is measured as this excess of carrying value over fair value. We recognized a $10.5 million impairment of goodwill in 2017 primarily due to the unfavorable economic environment in Puerto Rico and the additional adverse effect of Hurricane Maria. We did not recognize any impairments of goodwill in 2018 or 2019. It2019, but did record a goodwill impairment of $1.8 billion in 2020. Based on future market conditions and the Company's financial performance, it is reasonably possible we may be required to record additional impairment of $4.5goodwill up to $2.6 billion of goodwill attributable to SC and SBNA in the future. There can be no assurance that we will not have to write down the value attributed to goodwill further in the future, which would not impact risk-based capital ratios adversely, but would adversely affect our results of operations and stockholder's equity.

Our continued success depends in part on the continued service of key members of our management team. The ability to continue to attract, train, motivate and retain highly qualified professionals is a key element of our strategy. The successful implementation of our growth strategy depends on the availability of skilled management, both at our head office and at each of our business units. If we or one of our business units or other functions fails to staff its operations appropriately or loses one or more of its key senior executives and fails to replace them in a satisfactory and timely manner, our business, financial condition and results of operations, including control and operational risks, may be adversely affected.

The financial industry in the United States has experienced and may continue to experience more stringent regulation of employee compensation, which could have an adverse effect on our ability to hire or retain the most qualified employees. In addition, due to our relationship with Santander, we are subject to indirect regulation by the European Central Bank, which has recently imposed compensation restrictions that may apply to certain of our executive officers and other employees under the CRD IV prudential rules. These restrictions may impact our ability to retain our experienced management team and key employees and our ability to attract appropriately qualified personnel, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Maintaining a positive reputation is critical to our attracting and maintaining customers, investors and employees and conducting business transactions with our counterparties. Damage to our reputation can therefore cause significant harm to our business and prospects. Harm to our reputation can arise from numerous sources including, among others, employee misconduct, litigation or regulatory outcomes, failure to deliver minimum standards of service and quality, dealing with sectors that are not well perceived by the public (e.g., weapons industries), dealing with customers on sanctions lists, ratings downgrades, compliance failures, unethical

Actions by the financial services industry generally or by certain members of, or individuals in, the industry can also affect our reputation. For example, the role played by financial services firms in the financial crisis and the seeming shift toward increasingincreased regulatory supervision and enforcement have caused public perception of us and others in the financial services industry to decline. Activists increasingly target financial services firms with criticism for relationships with clients engaged in businesses whose products are perceived to be harmful to the health of customers, or whose activities are perceived to affect public safety affect the environment, climate or workers’ rights negatively. Such criticism could increase dissatisfaction among customers, investors and employees of the Company and damage the Company’s reputation. Alternatively, yielding to such activism could damage the Company’s reputation with groups whose views are not aligned with those of the activists. In either case, certain clients and customers may cease to do business with the Company, and the Company’s ability to attract new clients and customers may be diminished.

Preserving and enhancing our reputation also depends on maintaining systems, procedures and controls that address known risks and regulatory requirements, as well as our ability to timely identify, understand and mitigate additional risks that arise due to changes in our businesses and the markets in which we operate, the regulatory environment and customer expectations.

We could suffer significant reputational harm if we fail to identify and manage potential conflicts of interest properly. The failure to adequately address, or the perceived failure to adequately address, conflicts of interest could affect the willingness of clients to deal with us, or give rise to litigation or enforcement actions against us. Therefore, there can be no assurance that conflicts of interest will not arise in the future that could cause material harm to us.

Fraudulent activity associated with our products or networks could cause us to suffer reputational damage, the use of our products to decrease and our fraud losses to be materially adversely affected. We are subject to the risk of fraudulent activity associated with merchants, customers and other third parties handling customer information. The risk of fraud continues to increase for the financial services industry in general. Credit and debit card fraud, identity theft and related crimes are prevalent, and perpetrators are growing more sophisticated. Our resources, customer authentication methods and fraud prevention tools may not be sufficient to accurately predict or prevent fraud. Additionally, our fraud risk continues to increase as third parties that handle confidential consumer information suffer security breaches and we expand our direct banking business and introduce new products and features. Our financial condition, the level of our fraud charge-offs and other results of operations could be materially adversely affected if fraudulent activity were to increase significantly. High-profile fraudulent activity could negatively impact our brand and reputation. In addition, significant increases in fraudulent activity could lead to regulatory intervention and reputational and financial damage to our brands, which could negatively impact the use of our products and services and have a material adverse effect on our business.business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Bank and its subsidiaries have entered into a number of services agreements pursuant to which we render services, such as administrative, accounting, finance, treasury, legal services and others.

United States law applicable to certain financial institutions, including the Bank and other Santander entities and offices in the U.S., establish several procedures designed to ensure that the transactions entered into with or among our subsidiaries and/or affiliates do not deviate from prevailing market conditions for those types of transactions.

The Bank and its affiliates are likely to continue to engage in transactions with their respective affiliates. Future conflicts of interests among our affiliates may arise, which conflicts are not required to be and may not be resolved in SHUSA's favor.

Many companies across the country and in the financial services industry have reported significant breaches in the security of their websites or other systems. Cybersecurity risks have increased significantly in recent years due to the development and proliferation of new technologies, increased use of the internet and telecommunications technology to conduct financial transactions, and increased sophistication and activities of organized crime groups, state-sponsored and individual hackers, terrorist organizations, disgruntled employees and vendors, activists and other third parties. Financial institutions, the government and retailers have in recent years reported cyber incidents that compromised data, resulted in the theft of funds or the theft or destruction of corporate information and other assets.

We take protective measures and continuously monitor and develop our systems to protect our technology infrastructure and data from misappropriation or corruption. We have policies, practices and controls designed to prevent or limit disruptions to our systems and enhance the security of our infrastructure. These include performing risk management for information systems that store, transmit or process information assets identifying and managing risks to information assets managed by third-party service providers through

Nevertheless, while we have not experienced material losses or other material consequences relating to cyberattacks or other information or security breaches, whether directed at us or third parties, our systems, software and networks, as well as those of our clients, vendors, service providers, counterparties and other third parties, may be vulnerable to unauthorized access, misuse, computer viruses or other malicious code, cyberattacks such as denial of service, malware, ransomware, phishing, and other events that could result in security breaches or give rise to the manipulation or loss of significant amounts of personal, proprietary or confidential information of our customers, employees, suppliers, counterparties and other third parties, disrupt, sabotage or degrade service on our systems, or result in the theft or loss of significant levels of liquid assets, including cash. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve and increase in sophistication, we cannot guarantee the effectiveness of our policies, practices and controls to protect against all such circumstances that could result in disruptions to our systems. This is because, among other reasons, the techniques used in cyberattacks change frequently, cyberattacks can originate from a wide variety of sources, and third parties may seek to gain access to our systems either directly or by using equipment or passwords belonging to employees, customers, third-party service providers or other authorized users of our systems. In the event of a cyberattack or security breach affecting a vendor or other third party entity on whom we rely, our ability to conduct business, and the security of our customer information, could be impaired in a manner to that of a cyberattack or security breach affecting us directly. We also may not receive information or notice of the breach in a timely manner, or we may have limited options to influence how and when the cyberattack or security breach is addressed.

As financial institutions are becoming increasingly interconnected with central agents, exchanges and clearinghouses, they may be increasingly susceptible to negative consequences of cyberattacks and security breaches affecting the systems of such third parties. It could take a significant amount of time for a cyberattack to be investigated, during which time we may not be in a position to fully understand and remediate the attack, and certain errors or actions could be repeated or compounded before they are discovered and remediated, any or all of which could further increase the costs and consequences associated with a particular cyberattack. The perception of a security breach affecting us or any part of the financial services industry, whether correct or not, could result in a loss of confidence in our cybersecurity measures or otherwise damage our reputation with customers and third parties with whom we do business. Should such adverse events occur, we may not have indemnification or other protection from the third party sufficient to compensate or protect us from the consequences.

As attempted cyberattacks continue to evolve in scope and sophistication, we may incur significant costs in our attempts to modify or enhance our protective measures against such attacks to investigate or remediate any vulnerability or resulting breach, or in communicating cyberattacks to our customers. An interception, misuse or mishandling of personal, confidential or proprietary information sent to or received from a client, vendor, service provider, counterparty or third party or a cyberattack could result in our inability to recover or restore data that has been stolen, manipulated or destroyed, damage to our systems and those of our clients, customers and counterparties, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, or other significant disruption of operations, including disruptions in our ability to use our accounting, deposit, loan and other systems and our ability to communicate with and perform transactions with customers, vendors and other parties. These effects could be exacerbated if we would need to shut down portions of our technology infrastructure temporarily to address a cyberattack, if our technology infrastructure is not sufficiently redundant to meet our business needs while an aspect of our technology is compromised, or if a technological or other solution to a cyberattack is slow to be developed. Even if we timely resolve the technological issues in a cyberattack, a temporary disruption in our operations could adversely affect customer satisfaction and behavior, expose us to reputational damage, contractual claims, regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions, or litigation.