Santander targets €1 billion annual boost from AI investments as it expands customer base to 210M

Santander expects to generate €1 billion in business value from investments in AI

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The Spanish bank has set its sights on growing its customer base from 180 million to more than 210 million by the end of 2028. At the same time it is betting on enhancements from AI and data initiatives to grow revenue mid-single digit and reducing total costs every year to achieve a profit of more than €20 billion by 2028. Billing itself as a global digital bank with branches, Santander expects to improve its efficiency ratio through further simplification of products and processes, increased collaboration across its global businesses and the scaling of common technology platforms. Investments in data & AI are described as a key lever of its ONE Transformation strategy, fully embedded in the businesses and focused on "hyper-personalized" customer journeys, AI-powered frontline productivity and end-to-end process automation. In August, Santander inked a deal with OpenAI, rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise to an initial cohort of 15,000 staffers as part of a bid to become an "AI-native" bank. At the time, chief data and AI officer Ricardo Martín Manjón said that in 2024 AI initiatives generated over €200 million in savings. AI copilots now support more than 40% of contact centre interactions. In Spain, Speech Analytics processes 10 million voice calls annually, auto-filling CRM systems to improve customer service and freeing over 100,000 hours annually for higher-value work. To fulfill its ambitions of becoming an AI-fist digital bank, Santander has begun tailoring AI training across roles and markets and this year will launch of a mandatory AI training plan for all employees.

Santander aims for €1bn boost from AI and wants 30m more customers | BreakingNews

Santander has set its sights on a €1 billion boost from investing in artificial intelligence (AI) and data, while it plans to cut costs across the bank for the next three years. The global banking group, which is based in Spain, set out to stretch new financial goals as part of a new strategic plan for 2026 to 2028. Bosses want to grow the bank's revenues and reduce total business costs every year, to generate a profit of more than €20 billion by 2028. It is also aiming to grow its customer base to 210 million - 30 million more than the 180 million it had at the end of last year. Santander is one of the world's biggest banks with customers across Europe and the Americas, and more than 200,000 staff. Like other lenders, it is hoping to lean into the AI boom and harness data to save money, automate work processes to make it more efficient, and develop new ways of delivering a personalised service for customers. By 2028, the bank expects to generate more than €1 billion of business value each year from data and AI initiatives, which will come both from cost savings and increased revenues. Within its retail business, Santander said the focus was on becoming a "global digital bank with branches". Santander recently announced plans to shut another 44 of its bank branches in the UK - which will leave it with 244 full branches by the end of January next year, as well as running smaller and reduced-hour sites. In comparison, rival lender Lloyds will have a network of around 610 branches following its next tranche of closures. Banks across the industry have been overhauling their networks which they link to a shift from customers away from in-person banking and towards digital services. Ana Botin, the executive of the wider Banco Santander group, said: "Our strategic plan for 2026-28 sets a new standard for profitable growth, with the aim to serve more than 210 million customers across Europe and the Americas." She is due to lay out more details of the bank's strategy at its "investor day" in London.