Last update: 09/04/2025

This global business comprises our retail and commercial banking operations and offers financing and other services to retail customers, SMEs, corporates and institutions. A large slice of that financing comes from customer deposits.

One of Grupo Santander’s key priorities is to ramp up our transformation. In Retail, our transformation will enable us to use our technology to serve our customers better and drive efficiency and value creation.

And the numbers are reflecting the inroads we’re making. In 2024, we added eight million more customers, improved our efficiency ratio (-3 pp to 39.7%) and increased profitability (RoTE +4 pp to 18.9%). Our Retail arm accounts for 52% of the Group’s profits.

Our strategy is based on implementing a common operating model and technology in all our markets to boost digitalization and simplify our products and services. 

Our global technology platform for Retail comprises two parts that we built in-house: the back-end (Gravity) and the cloud-based front-end (ODS). In 4Q’24, we were in the top 3 for new customer onboarding time in every market, among other achievements.

Our financial results also show how well the Retail business is performing. Last year, its profit climbed 29% to some EUR 7.3 billion. By grouping our retail and commercial operations, we have reduced our product portfolio by 39%, simplified our proposition and enhanced customer experience.

The execution of our strategy and transformation of the business enabled us to increase profitability and reduce the cost per customer by 3% thanks to process automation and simplification. This is one way we are laying the foundations to become a digital bank with branches.

• Continue delivering our transformation plan with the aim of becoming a digital bank with branches underpinned by a common operating model and global technology platform.
• Focus our business model on forming closer ties with our customers and optimizing the network effect.
• Strengthen the business’s structural efficiency by transforming our operating and business models and driving efficiency in our cost to serve.