With over 76 million customers, Santander has consolidated its position as the leading bank in the region with initiatives that leverage our operating model and global technology capabilities: We continue to strengthen our retail banking, help businesses expand into new markets, boost consumer finance or innovate in payments, among other priorities.  

Despite geopolitical risks and monetary policy adjustments, Latin America is on a path of stability in both macroeconomic and social terms. It is evolving beyond its traditional activity, focused on the export of raw materials, manufacturing, and dependence on imported products - and is opening up to new avenues for growth and economic opportunities.

Amid changes in global supply and production chains, the region is attracting foreign investment while strengthening its role in the international economy. In this context, Santander is consolidating its position as a key partner and main regional financial player, supporting our more than 76 million customers there. 

Santander has been present - for decades - in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay with universal banking; and in Peru and Colombia with niche operations. As the leading bank in Latin America, we can offer solutions aiming the growth of individuals, the internationalization of businesses, supporting families’ progress, financial inclusion, innovation, and green finance. 

The Group's franchise in the region is profitable, efficient, productive, and growing significantly: our attributable profit was 19% higher at the end of the first quarter of 2024, compared to the previous year.

Our transformation efforts focus on extracting even greater value from this combination of global and platform capabilities combined with local and regional characteristics to make the best solutions available to our customers.

Supporting businesses grow internationally 

Santander is the ideal partner to help our clients in their international journey and accompany them trading internationally or setting up operations abroad. For years we have been promoting an initiative that facilitates their international expansion, known as Multinationals. In Latin America we support 7,850 multinationals, 11% more businesses as of May 2024 year-on-year.

This successful approach to entering new markets is based on the connectivity of the five businesses, our global tech capabilities, a deep local knowledge and the trust that Santander represents in the countries in which we operate. This approach is not exclusive to South America, but is a reality at Group level, where we support all businesses seeking new opportunities who expand internationally. Our commitment is to continue making progress offering the best service and scaling our capabilities to each client whether they want to start or to deepen their international journey.

Additionally, and given the importance for our economies, we are developing specialized verticals for the agricultural and mining industries. Our service model has highly specialized professionals in these sectors, and as always, complies with the premise of bringing the best of Grupo Santander to each client.

Value through five global businesses

Our transformation process towards a global and more digital operating model is enabling the modernization of our businesses and generating greater collaboration between countries, regions, and the businesses themselves.

At Santander, we are advancing this strategy by building the five global businesses (Retail & Commercial, Digital Consumer Bank, SCIB, Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments), that leverage the synergies and connectivity that only the Group can offer.

Moving towards a simpler and more integrated model also reflects our strength as a Group. Overall, this leads to greater profitability for our businesses while it highlights our unique and unrepeatable ability to combine global leadership and expertise with deep local knowledge.

An example of this is our outstanding leadership in Consumer Finance worldwide and in the region, where we are the leading specialist operator. We maximize our knowledge, our focus, our global alliances, and our talent, and today we are exploring the construction of common technological platforms that will help us offer a better service to our clients.

Global tech collaboration  

The digital agenda we are developing in South America is represented by the automation and simplification of products and processes that together with our common technological capabilities, allow us to offer better customer service. In this sense, we are following an agenda of transformation and modernization that is none other than the Group’s.

In this regard, and with the aim of creating customer-centric solutions, we innovate with new experiences in mobile and digital banking, in tools for customer management in branches and contact centres. We also have outstanding advances such as Gravity, the cloud-native digital platform, or Plard, the new global card platform, among others.

South America is a reference in digitization and innovation in payment methods due to our own leadership and the dynamic markets in which we compete. Getnet, today present in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Spain, and Portugal, was born in Brazil and is an example of our capacity for innovation as a Group, connected to our local strength. Today, Getnet is a fundamental pillar of Payments, one of the five global businesses.

The region has also contributed to other innovation phenomena in terms of the relationship with our customers, such as the Work Café model, launched in 2016 in Chile. Today, Chile has more than 90 Work Café, and we can find this service model in 229 branches in 9 of the countries in which we operate.

Santander's scale and presence in the region is growing strongly, favoured by our unique and unrepeatable combination as a Group. We are the only bank that, due to our presence, depth, market knowledge, capabilities, and coverage, can help customers and accompany them in their local financial needs with our global solutions. 

Our traditional, unique, and unrepeatable presence as a Group in South America is structural and long-term.  We are the leading bank in the region, and we remain committed to accompanying and helping people and businesses prosper. 

Santander, leaders in Latin America!