Accenture Selected by Banco Santander to Support Global Operations

MADRID; March 25, 2009 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has signed a two-year, €100 million agreement with Banco Santander to support the bank’s global operations by providing systems integration, consulting, business process management, information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing.

In the first phase of the work, Accenture is providing systems integration services to support Santander’s acquisition of Banco Real in Brazil; its acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland’s European consumer finance unit; and the integration of Abbey National and Alliance & Leicester (A&L) into Santander Group in the United Kingdom. As part of its engagement in the United Kingdom, Accenture is also overseeing change management implementation.

In addition to the current work, the agreement calls for Accenture to develop and implement strategic initiatives relating to Santander’s operations in Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

“Thanks to this agreement, we can significantly strengthen our execution capabilities to continue implementing our strategic systems vision, which has made us the most efficient global bank in the world”, said Mr. José Mª Fuster, general technology and operations manager of Grupo Santander.

Juan Marín, who leads Accenture’s Financial Services practice in Spain, said, “Banco Santander’s commitment to excellence in its processes, operations and technology has made it a benchmark institution within the global financial services industry. We look forward to helping the bank in its efforts to achieve global expansion and increased efficiencies.”

Accenture will leverage the full breadth of its capabilities including a deep understanding of pre- and post- merger integration, systems integration, outsourcing and knowledge of the banking industry.

About Banco Santander 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 more than 14,000 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 €8,876 million in attributable net profit, an increase of 9% from 2007, excluding capital gains. For more information, see www.santander.com.

About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 186,000 people serving clients in over 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2008. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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Contact:

Francois Luu
Accenture
+33 1 53 23 68 55
+33 6 60 53 84 28
francois.luu@accenture.com

Sean Conway
Accenture
(917) 452-6444
(917) 592-5744
sean.k.conway@accenture.com