(GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) --Thursday, October 4, 2018. Yesterday the Chilean Congress approved the project to modernize the Banking Law after more than a year of discussion. This modernization will strengthen the solvency of the banking industry, as well as define new corporate governance for the regulator, in line with international standards. Following the enactment of the law, the Chilean banking regulator (SBIF) will be absorbed by the Financial Markets Commission (CMF) and this regulator will have the task of defining the details of the new capital requirements in line with BIS III such as the risk-weightings for assets.

  Here at Santander Chile we welcome this development, being the first major reform to the financial system in many years. As Santander Chile is part of Grupo Santander S.A., the bank already complies with BIS III regulations as required by our parent group, and therefore we already have the necessary procedures and teams to support the implementation.

  For more information please see the press release made by the Association of Banks in Chile (in Spanish)

 https://www.abif.cl/declaracion-publica-aprobacion-de-proyecto-de-ley-que-moderniza-legislacion-bancaria/

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander Chile is the largest Bank in the Chilean market in terms of assets, loans and equity. As of June 30, 2018, we had total assets of Ch$37,589 billion (U.S.$57.5 billion), outstanding loans net of allowances for loan losses of Ch$28,429 billion (U.S.$43.5 billion), total deposits of Ch$20,809 billion (U.S.$ XX9 billion) and equity of Ch$3,043 billion (U.S.$4.7 billion). We have 376 branches, 1,001 ATMs, and 11,453 employees. Our BIS ratio up to June 2018 was 12.8%, with a core capital ratio of 10.0%. Our long-term credit risk rating are A1 by Moody's, A Fitch and A Standard & Poor's.

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Source: Banco Santander-Chile via Globenewswire