Santander Looks to AI for Digital Transformation

Banco Santander is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) as it works to boost its profit and its customer base over the next 24 months.

The bank plans to achieve a profit of over 20 billion euros (about $23.6 billion) by 2028, up from the record attributable profit of 14.1 billion euros (about $16.7 billion) it achieved in 2025, it said Wednesday (Feb. 25).

It also aims to reach more than 210 million customers across Europe and the Americas by 2028, up from 180 million at the end of 2025.

Santander outlined these goals in a Wednesday press release about a strategic plan for 2026-2028 the bank presented at its Investor Day in London.

“Customer growth, together with disciplined execution of ONE Transformation, will drive higher revenues and structurally lower costs, resulting in an efficiency ratio of [about 36%] and a RoTE [return on tangible equity] above 20% by 2028,” Banco Santander Executive Chair Ana Botín said in the release.

ONE Transformation is the bank’s initiative to scale common technology platforms across its global businesses to increase efficiency, according to the release.

The initiative includes investments in data and AI that will be embedded in the businesses and focused on delivering “hyper-personalized customer journeys,” the release said.

The bank expects these investments alone to generate a combination of cost savings and revenues that will amount to over 1 billion euros annually, adding about 1 percentage point to its cost-to-income improvement, per the release.

With these and other gains, Santander expects to increase its revenue by mid-single-digit percentages and reduce total costs each year, enabling it to reach its goal of over-20-billion-euro profit by 2028, according to the release.

Santander announced Feb. 3 that it plans to expand its presence in the United States by acquiring the holding company for Connecticut-headquartered Webster Bank for $12.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second half, subject to customary closing conditions.

Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined business will be a top 10 retail and commercial bank in the U.S. by assets and a top five deposit franchise across key states in the Northeast.

Christiana Riley, CEO of Santander US, said in a Feb. 3 press release that the acquisition expands the bank’s commercial franchise and positions the bank for “sustainable, long-term growth.”

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