This agreement will allow the bank to provide services at the 4,675 Correos offices from the first quarter of 2021.

Santander’s basic financial services will reach an additional 1,500 municipalities through Correos.

Bank customers will be able to withdraw and deposit cash at Correos offices, and postal workers will be able to deliver money to any address in Spain.

Transactions will be free for Santander customers at Correos offices in areas where the bank is not present.

Madrid, 24 September 2020 - PRESS RELEASE
Today, Banco Santander and Correos, the Spanish postal service, has signed a deal to have cash withdrawal and deposit services, as well as cash delivered by post to any address in Spain, at the 4,675 Correos locations (2,393 post offices and 2,282 rural service points), starting in the first quarter of 2021. This option will be available to digital customers on the bank's app; other customers will only need their Santander bank card and ID to obtain these services at any Correos location. These services will be free of charge (for up to two transactions a month) for bank customers at Correos locations in areas where the bank is not present.

Correos has service locations in 75% of municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants where the bank is not present. Therefore, Santander will be able to reach 66% of those that did not have a cash service in their town or village in Spain. This model has been very successful in the United Kingdom and other countries and will serve many who have had no access to basic financial services until now. Spanish regions Andalusia, Catalonia, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura and Castile-León will gain the most. Municipalities that will benefit from this initiative include Sant Fruitós de Bages and Bigues i Riells, in the province of Barcelona; Villalvilla, in Madrid; Iznájar and Adamuz, in Cordoba; El Saucejo and Tocina, in Seville; Cenes de la Vega, in Granada; San José del Valle, in Cadiz; Cómpeta, in Malaga; Muskiz, in Biscay; Cañete, in Cuenca; and Redován, in Alicante.

The deal was closed this morning by Correos chairman Juan Manuel Serrano and Rami Aboukhair, the CEO of Santander Spain. Juan Manuel Serrano said: ‘Correos is continuing to provide its services to companies, institutions and administrations to drive and develop our post office activity. Our post office network is an asset that guarantees each and every one of us access to a public service and contributes to territorial cohesion and the financial development of people and companies in urban and rural areas of Spain."

Rami Aboukhair said: ‘This deal is another step towards the financial inclusion of thousands who live in towns and villages where the bank does not have a branch or ATM. Starting next year, the digital banking services they can acess will also include cash deposits and withdrawals as well as cash delivery by post to addresses anywhere in Spain. We continue our work to give our customers the best experience on all of our channels. That is why we also recently updated our app, making it more personal with more features for the new covid-19 backdrop’.

Digital banking

54% of Santander customers living in places where the bank has no branch or ATM are digital customers; thanks to this agreement, they will have access to basic financial services in addition to digital banking. 

Santander has over 5.1 million digital customers in Spain who connect to its app and website more than 22 times a month. 65% of the bank’s active customers are digital. Since the state of emergency, the bank’s digital channels have played a key role in ensuring normal operations. 

About Correos 
Correos was founded 300 years ago. Through continued market adaptation, it has come to lead its industry in Spain. The company's current strategy focuses on internationalisation, sustainability and digital transformation. More than 53,000 employees serve citizens though a network of 2,393 post offices, distributing nearly 10 million postal deliveries a day. Correos Group has three subsidiaries: Correos Express (for urgent deliveries), Nexea (specialised in mass, multichannel corporate communications solutions), and Correos Telecom (which manages and markets telecommunications infrastructures). It is held by SEPI Group, which controls 15 state-run entities.

About Santander
Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful presence in 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, and is one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. Its purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising over €120 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2025, as well as financially empowering more than 10 million people over the same period. At the end of the first half of 2020, Banco Santander had more than a trillion euros in total funds, 146 million customers, of which 21.5 million are loyal and 40 million are digital, 11,800 branches and 194,000 employees.