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

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.