The entity is sponsoring Spain's ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team, led by Carlos Sainz and Laia Sanz, in the new Extreme E electric off-road racing series.

The competition will take place in five remote locations affected by climate change in order to spread awareness about sustainable mobility.

Madrid, 30 March 2021 - PRESS RELEASE
Santander Private Banking will be a new sponsor of the ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team that Carlos Sainz and Laia Sanz will lead to compete in the inaugural Extreme E, the new electric off-road series. These races for sustainable mobility, respect for the environment, and diversity are set to begin in Saudi Arabia on 3 April and finish in Argentina in December. Overall, nine teams will compete in five regions particularly affected by climate change, such as the Arctic and Tierra del Fuego. The extreme conditions in each setting will test the performance and endurance of the fully electric off-road vehicles, powered by green hydrogen fuel cell generators.  

This new series also promotes gender equality in sport. The two drivers of each team will be a man and a woman, competing together in relays to win races. 

The team Santander Private Banking is sponsoring boasts the experience of two-time world rally winner and three-time Dakar champion Carlos Sainz, and of eleven-time Dakar women’s motorbike champion Laia Sanz. Both will face this new and unique challenge with their sights set on taking the Spanish squad to the highest level of competition.

This latest sponsorship boosts Santander Private Banking’s global commitment to diversity, innovation and sustainability, while asserting its stance against climate change and for equal opportunity between men and women in broader society. 

Víctor Matarranz, global head of the Wealth Management & Insurance Division, said: “We’re delighted to form part of this new championship that holds values such as sustainability, planet-conscious technology and equal opportunity between men and women. These are values we identify with and strive towards every day. It's a pleasure to be on Laia and Carlos’s team”.

Santander Private Banking also promotes other sports. Its chief ambassador is tennis great Rafa Nadal, and it sponsors such sporting events as the Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters, one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in Europe.

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 Private Banking manages a volume of EUR 230 billion in customer assets and liabilities. Euromoney Magazine has recognized Santander Private Banking as the best Private Bank in several of its core markets, rewarding its commitment to becoming the best responsible Wealth Manager in Europe and the Americas.

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 2020, Banco Santander had more than a trillion euros in total funds, 148 million customers, of which 22.8 million are loyal and 42.4 million are digital, 11,000 branches and 191,000 employees.

Extreme E is a ground-breaking series that will feature electric off-road vehicles and futuristic technology in some of the most far-flung, extreme regions of the planet. This global, five-part journey will use its sporting platform to promote electrification, sustainability and equal opportunity. Its purpose is to call attention to climate change in some of farthest reaches of the Earth, promote electrical vehicles for a future with less CO2 and provide a global motorsports platform for gender equality. As the first sporting event created for a social cause, Extreme E aims to minimize environmental impact while maximizing awareness; and to run in places already damaged or affected by climate change, taking fans to the heart of the direst issues and facing up to our planet’s future. That’s not all: Extreme E is also helping car manufacturers develop technology for the future, turning races into a platform for innovative driving.