Global bank Santander shared its vision yesterday of becoming an AI-native bank, partnering with OpenAI to achieve this goal.
In a blog post, Santander Chief Data & AI Officer Ricardo Martín Manjón explained that they seek to reshape banking by modernizing operations, providing a personalized, agile, and efficient banking experience.
Noting that they have been using AI for years, Manjón said their past experience is foundational for their mission to redefine banking. Their strategy aligns with three objectives:
- AI embedded in all the businesses – integrated across product management, credit, marketing, service, operations, and other core functions.
- AI at the core of our global platforms.
- AI ecosystem as a growth lever – driven by relationships with OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon and a dynamic startup community.
“We are becoming AI Native.”
Manjón said they are already seeing savings in their operations by using AI, putting a number on the amount at €200 million in 2024. More than 6,000 developers are said to be using AI tools, “increasing productivity by 20–30% for some tasks.”
Next up is scaling AI usage further to enable fully conversational banking as virtual assistants will work with customers to enable their goals. He predicts that AI will be seamlessly integrated, invisible even, in the updated Santander banking experience.
Laurent Descout, CEO and co-founder at Neo, commented on the news, sayig AI is a productivity game changer for administratinve tasks, transforming the financial landscape. He said that Santander’s partnership with OpenAI is a “clear signal that banks are moving from experimentation to large-scale adoption and embedding AI deeper into day-to-day operations.”
At the same time, Descout believes challenges remain:
“While AI can reduce the manual workload, the key question is how it will truly empower banks. Too often, customers, particularly SMEs, face long decision times when dealing with banks, largely due to staff being unable to make judgments in non-standard situations. Whether AI can solve this is still unclear. If it’s only applied to enforce existing policies rather than help reshape them, there’s a real risk that banking customers will continue to face the same dead-end scenarios they do today.”
Santander won’t be the last traditional bank to migrate towards an AI-powered banking model. This is just another step in the shift from physical banking to fully digital services infused with more robust and consumer-centric tools.