Technology, talent and size are the three cornerstones on which Banco Santander will execute its strategic plan in the medium term in order to increase growth and drive profitability. The institution brought together financial analysts in London to present its new road map, which includes the allocation of more than €20 billion to digital transformation and technology over the next four years to improve customer experience and increase trust and loyalty, in addition to reducing costs.
 

The Group has reaffirmed its medium-term objectives, which include an underlying return on tangible equity (RoTe) of 13%-15% and a fully loaded CET1 ratio of 11%-12%. The bank is also undertaking to reduce the cost-to-income ratio to below 45% and increase the payout (percentage of profit that goes to dividends) to 40%–50%.

The starting point for achieving these objectives is an excellent execution of its strategic plan, which has placed Banco Santander as one of the most profitable and efficient banks among its peers. During this new stage, technology will be a key factor with which the bank expects to generate greater value for its shareholders: “Technology is changing banking as we know it, so we are getting Banco Santander ready to make the most of the enormous strengths we have within the Group, such as technology, talent and size. This will help us make the most of the opportunities brought to us by digital innovation and become digital leaders in the financial sector over the next decade," says Santander’s Group executive chairman, Ana Botin.
 

A sustainable event

Banco Santander has been awarded the AENOR event sustainability management system certificate to accredit the sustainability of its Investor Day, which took place in London yesterday. Banco Santander became the first company to receive this AENOR accreditation, which is based on the UNE-ISO 20121 standard, for a meeting with investors, analysts and rating agencies.

Payments are the cornerstone of our digital focus

The cornerstones of the Group's commitment to digitalisation will be payments, with expected revenue growth of about 9%. To achieve this, the bank has announced the creation of Santander Global Payment Services, a new global entity that will be run by Javier San Félix and will include Global Trade Services and Global Merchant Services.

Santander is also changing its technological infrastructure to host it on the cloud and be able to operate with global platforms, which will help accelerate transformation. Machine learning, robotics and process re-engineering also feature in numerous Banco Santander initiatives and services aimed at improving customer experience and being more efficient.

During their meeting with investors at Investor Day, the Group executive chairman and the CEO, José Antonio Álvarez, also announced a new organisational structure to simplify company management. A structure will be created by geographical region, where Europe will be run by Gerry Byrne; South America by Sergio Rial; and North America jointly by Scott Powell and Héctor Grisi.