Santander Consumer Finance is a leading consumer finance company present in 18 countries worldwide, from mature to emerging markets: Austria , Belgium , Brasil , the Czech Republic , Denmark , Finland , Germany , Hungary , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Portugal , Puerto Rico, Russia , the Slovak Republic, Spain , Sweden , UK and USA . We are part of Santander, one of the largest financial groups in the world. Santander Consumer started as a stand alone division in 2001 . More than 7,700 professionals provides the best consumer finance products and services to 10 million customers and more than 110,000 point of sale partners . We offer a wide range of consumer finance solutions mainly thorough point-of-sales, where we have developed a unique expertise, and direct-to-consumer channels such as branches, internet and telemarketing platforms. Our current size, presence in different countries and diversified portfolio provides us with competitive advantages: Pan-European and American scale with a strong and solid platform for expanding business Efficient distribution network, allowing transformation of indirect customers into direct customers Strong credit procedures, efficient recovery process and strong parent company rating (i.e.: low cost of funding) Diversified portfolio of products and geographically In 2007 the pre-tax results for the group of companies that make up Santander Consumer came to €1,051.4 million. Net profit rose 27.1% to €719 million, underlining the continuous growth of our company.