Banco Santander has revealed how its structural overhaul called ONE Transformation has supported business growth. The strategy is designed to reposition Santander as a global financial services platform powered by common cloud technology, unified data architecture and embedded artificial intelligence (AI).
Hazel Diez Castano is the Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Dan Griffiths is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Santander.
With more than €20 billion invested in technology and AI over the past decade and annual investment running at approximately €2 billion, Santander is accelerating its transition from locally managed banking silos to a fully integrated global digital platform.
“The deployment of shared global platforms is improving customer experience while reducing cost-to-serve, driving sustained operational leverage and a reduction in our cost-to-income ratio from 45.8 percent to 41.2 percent over the past three years,” Ana Botin, Banco Santander executive chair, said.
Gravity and Gravity 2.0: The Core of Santander’s Technology Platform
At the heart of the transformation is the proprietary Gravity platform, a cloud-native back-end system that already processes 1.3 trillion transactions annually and supports 70 percent of the bank’s technical operations.
A key milestone for 2026 is the migration of Brazil onto Gravity, completing one of the most complex integration phases in the group’s global rollout.
Gravity 2.0 and Global API Integration
The next evolution, Gravity 2.0, is already live within Santander’s payments hub. Built on a global API architecture, it connects all Santander banks instantly across markets.
While the original Gravity platform delivered 16 percent savings through simplification and standardisation, Gravity 2.0 is projected to generate savings of up to 45 percent by eliminating duplication and reducing integration costs close to zero.
This supports Santander’s “build once, deploy everywhere” philosophy, allowing digital products and processes developed in one country to be rolled out globally without incremental development costs. The model enhances operational scale while lowering technology complexity.
AI Strategy: Balancing Defensive Productivity and Offensive Growth
Santander views AI as a structural competitive advantage and is embedding it across both operational and revenue-generating functions.
Defensive AI: Productivity and Cost Efficiency
On the defensive side, AI is integrated into internal processes to drive productivity and efficiency gains. AI-enabled personalisation improves customer engagement and primacy, while automation enhances operational workflows.
Offensive AI: Growth and New Revenue Streams
Offensively, AI is being used to expand new business models. A key example is Ebury, Santander’s SME-focused foreign exchange and cross-border payments platform. Ebury is developing AI agents to manage and optimise cross-border transactions, with early results indicating potential cost reductions of up to 50 percent in cross-border payments.
AI Financial Targets
Santander is targeting €1 billion in total value creation from AI initiatives by 2028, including:
€700 million in cost reductions
€300 million in revenue enhancements
This AI-driven value creation is central to improving group-wide profitability and operational leverage.
Digital Transformation and Openbank Expansion
The ONE Transformation program also aims to unify Santander’s global digital experience and eliminate fragmented local operating models.
Openbank as a Digital Growth Engine
Openbank, Santander’s fully digital bank, is a core pillar of the strategy. The bank targets a Return on Tangible Equity of around 16 percent for Openbank by 2028, positioning it as a high-return digital platform.
Product Simplification and Customer Experience
As part of its digital rationalisation, Santander has reduced its product catalogue by 61 percent. This simplification results in:
Cleaner digital interfaces
Lower back-end complexity
Faster product deployment
Improved cost efficiency
Online Customer Growth
Santander aims to grow its customer base from 180 million to more than 210 million by 2028. The expansion will be driven by common global platforms, improved digital onboarding, and AI-enabled personalisation.
Payments and Network Businesses: Technology as a Capital-Light Driver
Technology is also reshaping Santander’s fee-income and capital-light business segments.
Payments Strategy
Santander intends to become a scale player and infrastructure enabler in payments. By 2028, the bank targets:
A 40 percent reduction in cost per payment transaction
More than 15 percent growth in payment revenue
Gravity 2.0 and unified APIs are critical to achieving this scale efficiency.
Network Businesses: CIB and Wealth Management
Global businesses such as Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management are leveraging the unified digital platform to expand cross-border capabilities and grow fee income at high single-digit and double-digit compound annual growth rates, respectively.
Financial Targets and Operational Efficiency by 2028
Santander’s technology-led transformation is designed to deliver measurable financial improvements:
Total customers to exceed 210 million, up from 180 million
Efficiency ratio of 41.2 percent in 2025 targeted for significant further improvement
€1 billion AI-driven value creation
Full global deployment of Gravity, including Brazil migration in 2026
40 percent reduction in payment transaction costs
Strategic Outlook: From Bank to Global Financial Platform
The ONE Transformation marks a shift from a traditional multinational banking group to a unified, AI-powered financial services platform. By combining Gravity 2.0, global APIs, embedded AI and simplified digital products, Santander aims to scale faster, lower structural costs, and create sustainable revenue growth.
RAJANI BABURAJAN
