Santander, the Spanish bank, expects that applying artificial intelligence (AI) will generate more than €200 million of value this year. The bank will broaden access to its AI tools from about 40,000 employees to its entire workforce of 185,000.
Goals and current results
Last year Santander set out to transform into a data- and AI-driven organisation. It aims to create more than €1 billion of value from the technology across 2026–2028. In the first quarter of this year the bank already recorded €35 million of benefit, and based on the pace of rollout it considers a €200 million annual target realistic.
Multi-vendor technology approach
Santander follows a multi-vendor model for AI. Solutions it uses include Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude and Google Gemini, alongside developments from G42 and other technology partners.
Automated agents and concrete applications
The bank currently operates more than 280 automated agents in production. These agents support day-to-day work in lending, fraud prevention, mandatory customer due diligence (KYC) and operational workflows.
In Brazil, for example, AI sped up handling of card-fraud complaints by 95%, achieving 90% automation and an error rate below 1%.
In the United Kingdom, Santander has started deploying AI on telephone customer service channels for card-related enquiries. The aim is to handle about 240,000 calls a year — roughly 40% of total call volume — via a self-service system. Santander estimates this will save customers around 26,000 hours of waiting time and free up 45,000 hours of staff capacity for more complex tasks.
Payments business and cross-border commerce
Beyond operational efficiency gains, Santander’s payments arm Santander Getnet is also using the new technology. For international card payments — for instance when a customer abroad wants to pay in their home currency — AI not only improves customer experience and merchant conversion rates, but also supports more modern cross-border payment services.
Why this matters
Expanding employee access to AI and adopting a multi-vendor AI strategy indicates that Santander views the technology as an integrated component of its operations and customer service. The bank’s published metrics — €35 million realised in Q1 and the acceleration seen in Brazil — provide concrete examples of how AI can reduce costs, boost efficiency and enhance customer experience.
Tags: artificial intelligence, Santander, OpenAI, customer service, bank, ChatGPT, AI, generative AI, card payments, AI agents
