A Spanish group that has put a €1 billion price on AI by 2028 and just bought Webster to become a top-20 US bank — with Openbank, agentic commerce and AI for all 185,000 employees as the levers.
How is Santander using AI?
Santander's US bank is in the middle of the group's biggest bet on America, and its AI story is the group's. At the 25 February 2026 investor day in London, executive chair Ana Botín said AI would contribute more than €1 billion to the 2028 targets: roughly €300 million of extra revenue and €700 million of lower costs, achieved through customer primacy, cross-selling and agentic commerce, inside ONE Transformation, the programme that scales common technology platforms across the group. On 22 June 2026 the group extended AI tools to all of its employees, and in the same month its Getnet merchant platform began accepting payments initiated by AI agents. Group profit targets (above €20 billion by 2028) and a US return-on-tangible-equity goal of 18% by 2028, up from 10% in 2025, are meant to be delivered partly by that programme. The US-specific record is about scale and digital distribution: Openbank, the digital bank launched in the United States in 2024, reached $6 billion of deposits in its first year; the $12.3 billion Webster Financial acquisition, announced on 3 February 2026 and completed on 20 August after OCC, ECB and Fed approvals, makes Santander a top-20 US bank with nearly eight million customers, Webster's CEO John Ciulla running Santander Bank, N.A., and Santander's head of product and platforms, Drew Burchard, in charge of digital banking. Santander US also publishes quarterly consumer research: nine in ten middle-income households see AI helping them reach financial prosperity, 49% of middle-income shoppers who browsed for cars online used AI to understand financing options, but most still want in-person support for major decisions. US-specific AI deployments, budgets and headcount are not disclosed separately.
Lead bank
Santander Bank, N.A.
Assets (lead bank, Jun 30, 2026)
$104 billion
Charter
National bank (OCC); subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A.
Headquarters
Boston, MA (US); Madrid (group)
Flagship platform
ONE Transformation: shared platforms, AI for every employee, agentic commerce
AI leadership
Christiana Riley · John Ciulla · Ana Botín · Drew Burchard · Luis Massiani · Vikram Nafde · Ignacio Sarquis · David McClelland · Bruce Jackson · Bobby Mehra · Xavier Courtois · Jose Oliveros · Alberto Hernandez · RL Prasad · Patryk Nowakowski · Iñaki Bernal · Juan Olaizola · Ricardo Martín Manjón · José Manuel de la Chica · Luis Ibáñez · Héctor Grisi · Dan Griffiths · Swati Bhatia
- A priced AI target: about €300 million of revenue and €700 million of cost savings by 2028, over €1 billion in total, set by the executive chair at the February 2026 investor day, alongside a group profit target above €20 billion.
- AI for every employee (June 2026) and agentic commerce through Getnet, which now accepts AI-agent-initiated payments; ONE Transformation supplies the shared platforms.
- The US bet: Webster acquired for $12.3 billion (announced 3 February, closed 20 August 2026), creating a top-20 US bank with about $327 billion of combined assets at announcement and nearly eight million customers; US RoTE target 18% by 2028.
- Digital distribution: Openbank took in $6 billion of deposits in its first US year; a Verizon partnership brings in customers; Drew Burchard runs digital banking for the combined bank after Openbank chief Swati Bhatia's exit.
- Consumer research as AI voice: 9 in 10 middle-income households see AI helping their finances; 49% of middle-income online car shoppers used AI to understand financing options (Q4 2025 survey); more than half in the Q1 2026 survey; households still value in-person support for major decisions (2026 surveys).
- Leadership: Christiana Riley is US country head and CEO of Santander Holdings USA; John Ciulla (ex-Webster) is CEO of Santander Bank, N.A.; the US tech chief Dan Griffiths left for USAA in February 2026.
- September 2026: Santander AI Lab published A2K (Agent-to-Knowledge), an open, transport-neutral protocol suite for enterprise AI agents to discover, query, cite and audit knowledge bases with scoped authority and governance controls; separately, Riley told American Banker she personally uses AI to 'vibe code' a custom CRM tool to help smooth the Webster integration.
- The SEC record is thin on AI: Santander Holdings USA's 2025 10-K carries an AI risk factor (flawed or biased models, third-party model concentration, human oversight, testing and independent model validation), but its Q1 and Q2 2026 10-Qs contain no mention of AI.
- Q2 2026: the group's US segment earned €989 million, up 26%, with RoTE of 13.2% and an efficiency ratio of 45.8%; CEO Héctor Grisi called the US 'a great example of the One Transformation benefits'. Santander Holdings USA's own net income was $585 million, up 17.5%.
- Integration is a technology story: Riley expects $800 million of cost savings by the end of 2028, mainly from merging technology platforms and back-office roles, a core-systems conversion by the end of 2027, and no brand or system change for 12 months after the 20 August close.
- The US technology bench is named but no US head of AI or chief data officer is: COO Luis Massiani oversees Technology & Operations, Vikram Nafde is CTO, and Ignacio Sarquis, Bobby Mehra, Xavier Courtois and Jose Oliveros are CIOs for retail and commercial, auto, CIB and wealth. AI leadership sits with the group's Ricardo Martín Manjón.
- Group partners: ChatGPT Enterprise for nearly 15,000 staff in Europe and the Americas within two months of the OpenAI tie-up (August 2025), Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic and Google tools for all 185,000 staff (June 2026), a G42 memorandum (3 June 2026) and agent-payment pilots with Mastercard and Visa. None is broken out for the US.
- Openbank US launched on 21 October 2024 on Santander's own cloud platform, held more than $6 billion after a year and more than $10 billion by October 2026; the only Santander US patent filing found in public records (Santander Consumer USA, 2023) is a non-AI loan-payment simulator.
What is ONE Transformation: shared platforms, AI for every employee, agentic commerce?
Santander's AI sits inside ONE Transformation, the group programme to run common technology platforms across its markets. At the February 2026 investor day the executive chair put a number on it: AI should add about €300 million of revenue and cut about €700 million of costs by 2028, more than €1 billion in all, through customer 'primacy', cross-selling and agentic commerce. In June 2026 the group extended AI tools to all its employees toward that target, and its merchant platform Getnet began accepting payments initiated by AI agents. In the United States the strategy lands through Openbank, the digital bank that gathered $6 billion of deposits in its first year, and through the $12.3 billion Webster acquisition completed on 20 August 2026.[1][2][3][9][15]
What AI partnerships and patents does Santander US have?
Santander US names few AI partners of its own: FICO supplies the platform for machine-learning credit risk in auto lending, and the group's OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Google and G42 relationships apply to US staff without a US breakdown. The only patent record found for a Santander US entity is a 2023 Santander Consumer USA application on simulating loan payments, which does not describe AI. No granted AI patent, GPU vendor, cloud-region or AI budget for the US business is public.[18][29][28][27][48]
| Item | What it is | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | ChatGPT Enterprise for nearly 15,000 employees across Europe and the Americas (group; US share not given) | In production | 2025-08-13[29][30] |
| Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic, Google | Tools available to all 185,000 employees under the June 2026 rollout | In production | 2026-06-22[28] |
| G42 (Inception, Presight) | Memorandum on a banking intelligence layer, agentic financial services and AI infrastructure; definitive agreements pending | Memorandum | 2026-06-03[27] |
| Mastercard Agent Pay | Europe's first live end-to-end AI-agent payment, in a controlled environment | Pilot | 2026-03-02[40][41] |
| Visa Intelligent Commerce | Agentic purchase pilots in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay | Pilot | 2026-03-12[42] |
| FICO Platform | Machine-learning credit-risk models for US auto lending; 2025 FICO Decisions Award | In production | 2025-05-07[18] |
| AutoFi | Software partner behind the Drive digital retail platform used by Santander Consumer (not described as AI) | In production | 2025-07-08[35] |
| Verizon | Multi-year distribution partnership for Verizon + Openbank Savings (not AI) | In production | 2025-03-18[34] |
| US 2023/0377033 A1 | Santander Consumer USA: simulating a loan payment structure on an interactive interface (no AI in the abstract) | Published application | 2023-11-23[48] |
| Santander AI Lab on GitHub | 11 Apache 2.0 projects including gen-fraud-graph and mech-gov-framework; A2K specification added in September 2026 | Published | 2026-06-25[44][23] |
What has Santander done on AI, and when?
- Oct 1, 2026
Riley: AI lets her 'vibe code' a CRM tool herself[24]
The US CEO says AI collapses the old technology development funnel, describing how she personally built a custom CRM tool with AI to help smooth the Webster integration.
- Sep 23, 2026
Santander AI Lab launches A2K, a protocol for agent-to-knowledge access[23]
An open specification, running over MCP, A2A and HTTPS, that lets enterprise AI agents discover, select, query, cite, audit and reconcile knowledge bases with scoped authority and lifecycle management.
- Aug 20, 2026
Riley: core conversion by end of 2027, $800 million of savings[36]
No system or brand changes for 12 months; savings come mainly from merging technology platforms and back-office roles; the combined workforce is about 14,000.
- Aug 20, 2026
Webster acquisition completed[15]
Nearly eight million US customers; an expanded Northeast footprint.
- Aug 12, 2026
Q2 fixed-income deck: $585 million net income[39]
Santander Holdings USA net income up 17.5% year on year; the deck shows SHUSA and Webster combined at $251 billion of assets, $142 billion of loans and $150 billion of deposits at 30 June 2026.
- Aug 4, 2026
Fed approval completes the regulatory set[6]
After the OCC and ECB; the deal to close on 20 August.
- Jul 31, 2026
Q2 10-Q filed, again with no AI language[37]
Santander Holdings USA's second-quarter 2026 10-Q describes the Webster merger and SBNA's Openbank platform but has no AI discussion.
- Jul 22, 2026
- Jun 30, 2026
Group AI research agreement with Spain's CSIC[43]
Group Chief AI Officer Iñaki Bernal says the agreement targets explainability, federated learning, bias detection and mitigation and advanced simulation.
- Jun 25, 2026
Santander AI Lab publishes 11 open-source projects[44]
Apache 2.0 repositories including gen-fraud-graph (synthetic fraud networks) and mech-gov-framework (language-model governance mechanisms); no real customer data.
- Jun 22, 2026
AI tools for all employees[2]
Toward the €1 billion 2026–2028 business-value goal.
- Jun 16, 2026
US digital chief on agentic AI personalisation[21]
Drew Burchard speaks on a Digital Banking panel about agentic AI that anticipates customer needs.
- Jun 9, 2026
Getnet accepts AI-agent payments[3]
The group's merchant platform opens to agentic commerce.
- Jun 3, 2026
Group signs AI memorandum with G42[27]
Covers AI-enabled advisory and savings, a banking intelligence layer and agentic financial services, with G42's Inception and Presight; definitive agreements are still to be signed.
- May 13, 2026
Paths to Prosperity Q1 2026 survey[46]
More than half of online car shoppers use AI to compare options; 85% can name a way AI supports financial prosperity.
- May 4, 2026
Q1 10-Q filed with no AI language[38]
Santander Holdings USA's first-quarter 2026 10-Q does not mention AI; the 2025 10-K had carried an AI risk factor.
- Apr 29, 2026
Technology bench for the combined bank[17]
US COO Luis Massiani to oversee joint Technology & Operations, Vikram Nafde as CTO and Ignacio Sarquis as retail, commercial and digital CIO; the T&O head is to leave.
- Apr 6, 2026
Post-deal management named[9]
Burchard to lead digital banking; Bhatia to leave; Webster's Motl to lead commercial.
- Mar 2, 2026
2025 10-K: every auto applicant automatically scored into one of 100 pricing tiers[16]
Santander Holdings USA says each auto applicant is automatically assigned a proprietary custom score built from FICO scores, debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios and over 30 other predictive factors, which sets one of 100 continuously monitored pricing tiers, with underwriters handling exceptions; the filing does not call the score AI or machine learning.
- Mar 2, 2026
- Mar 2, 2026
10-K names AI as a risk factor[16]
Santander Holdings USA says it uses AI to improve customer experience and reduce operational risk, and warns of flawed or biased models and misleading third-party AI outputs.
- Feb 25, 2026
- Feb 6, 2026
US technology chief leaves for USAA[11]
Dan Griffiths becomes USAA's CIO.
- Feb 3, 2026
- Jan 29, 2026
Middle-income Americans see AI helping their finances[22]
Santander US research: 9 in 10 see opportunities, 60% within the year; 49% of online car shoppers used AI to understand financing options.
- Jan 26, 2026
David McClelland takes over US auto[19]
Succeeds Bruce Jackson, who retires; also leads auto in Canada and Mexico and reports to Riley and to Nitin Prabhu, global head of the Digital Consumer Bank.
- Dec 1, 2025
Deepfake ads made on purpose[7]
The UK unit creates fake AI ads to teach customers what to watch for; 74% could not spot one.
- Oct 29, 2025
US profit up 64% on Openbank funding and fees[13]
Third-quarter results attribute the gain to lower funding costs from the digital lender.
- Oct 21, 2025
Openbank US passes $6 billion in deposits[33]
First-anniversary release: CDs and daily-use transaction products to follow; biometric security on the platform.
- Aug 13, 2025
- Jul 8, 2025
Santander Consumer launches Drive Together for dealers[35]
A subscription tool on dealer websites that uses soft-pull pre-qualification to generate leads, built on the Drive platform developed with AutoFi; the release does not describe AI.
- May 7, 2025
FICO award for machine-learning credit risk[18]
The US auto business wins a 2025 FICO Decisions Award for AI, Machine Learning & Optimization for rebuilding credit-risk modelling on FICO Platform.
- Mar 17, 2025
Verizon partnership to win US customers[14]
A push to expand US operations through embedded distribution.
- Feb 3, 2025
Christiana Riley named US CEO[10]
Part of a global restructuring that removed the regional divisions.
- Oct 21, 2024
Openbank launches in the United States[32]
A high-yield savings account opened in as little as five minutes through the app or openbank.us, on the proprietary cloud platform Santander is rolling out across its consumer businesses.
- Apr 9, 2024
Santander announces Openbank for the US[31]
A national digital offering planned for the second half of 2024, built on Santander's in-house technology platform to gather deposits that fund auto lending.
- May 19, 2020
$550 million multistate settlement rewrites subprime auto underwriting[49]
Santander Consumer USA settles with 33 attorneys general and the District of Columbia for over $550 million in relief over subprime auto loans the states said carried a high probability of default; it must underwrite on ability to pay on the loan's terms, stop buying loans that leave no money at month-end, and monitor dealers.
Where does Santander use AI today?
| System | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI tools for all employees (group)[2] | Extended to the whole workforce in June 2026 toward the €1 billion value target. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Agentic commerce via Getnet[3] | Merchants can accept payments initiated by AI agents. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Hyper-personalised customer journeys (ONE Transformation)[4][1] | Data and AI embedded in the businesses for cross-selling and primacy. | Rolling out | Customer-facing chatbots |
| Machine-learning auto credit risk on FICO Platform[18] | Approve/decline decisions, adverse-action reasons and probability-of-default for pricing in the US auto business, with faster model development and governance. | In production | Credit scoring & underwriting |
| AI risk-factor disclosure[16] | The 10-K covers flawed or biased models, poor-quality training data, misleading outputs from third-party AI and AI-enabled cyberattacks. | In production | Model risk management |
| Deepfake-scam education and AI fraud models[7] | Purpose-built fake AI ads in the UK; consumer education in the US. | In production | Fraud detection |
| Openbank digital banking[9][13] | The digital bank that gathered $6 billion of US deposits in its first year. | In production | Customer-facing chatbots |
| A2K: governed agent-to-knowledge protocol (Santander AI Lab)[23] | An open specification for AI agents to discover, query, cite and audit enterprise knowledge bases with scoped authority and audit controls. | Announced | Generative & agentic AI |
| Openbank AI models for AML alert investigation (group)[20] | About 100,000 anti-money-laundering alerts a year processed, with investigations cut from hours to minutes; the group does not say how much runs on the US platform. | In production | AML / KYC |
| Multi-vendor model stack (group)[28][29][16] | Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI, Anthropic and Google tools for all employees, on a vendor-agnostic architecture, with no customer data shared externally for model training; the 10-K flags third-party model concentration as a risk. | In production | Third-party & vendor AI |
| Agentic AI in software development (group)[20][29] | 17,000 people used agentic AI tools in May 2026 and 40% of code written in June was AI-generated; in 2025 over 6,000 developers reported 20-30% gains on some tasks. | In production | AI-generated code & coding agents |
| Synthetic fraud-network data (Santander AI Lab)[44] | gen-fraud-graph generates artificial networks of fraud transactions and behaviours, with no real customer data, for testing detection models. | Announced | Fraud detection |
| Agent-initiated payments with Mastercard and Visa (group)[40][42] | A live Mastercard Agent Pay payment in Europe within predefined limits and permissions (March 2026) and Visa Intelligent Commerce pilots in five Latin American markets; no US pilot is public. | Rolling out | Generative & agentic AI |
| Responsible-AI testing of conversational systems (group)[45] | Santander tests customer-facing conversational AI for over-refusal and unreliable answers; the group also publishes an evaluation approach for AI products. | Rolling out | AI governance (general) |
| Executive 'vibe coding' with AI[24] | US CEO Christiana Riley personally builds a custom CRM tool with AI to support the Webster integration. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Automated custom score and 100 auto pricing tiers[16][37] | An automated originations process assigns every auto applicant a proprietary custom score (FICO scores, DTI, LTV and over 30 other predictive factors) and one of 100 pricing tiers that are continuously monitored and adjusted; a team of underwriters reviews exceptions. Not described as AI in the filings. | In production | Credit scoring & underwriting |
Use-case links open the tracker's rules-by-use-case matrix: which documents govern each system type.
Which AI vendors and fintechs does Santander work with?
| Company | What Santander uses it for | Status | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| FICO | Machine-learning credit risk analysis for the US auto business on FICO Platform | In production | Credit decisioning |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Group-wide rollout of Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic and Google tools to all 185,000 Banco Santander employees (June 2026); the announcement does not break out the US bank. | In production | Enterprise AI assistants |
| ChatGPT Enterprise (OpenAI) | Group-wide tie-up: ChatGPT Enterprise reached nearly 15,000 Banco Santander employees across Europe and the Americas within two months (August 2025); the announcement does not break out the US bank. | In production | Enterprise AI assistants |
| Claude (Anthropic) | Group-wide rollout of Anthropic, Microsoft Copilot and Google tools to all 185,000 Banco Santander employees (June 2026); the announcement does not break out the US bank. | In production | Enterprise AI assistants |
| Gemini Enterprise (Google Cloud) | Group-wide rollout of Google tools, alongside Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic, to all 185,000 Banco Santander employees (June 2026); the announcement does not break out the US bank. | In production | Enterprise AI assistants |
Each vendor and fintech page cites the source for the relationship, and vendor pages list products, pricing and other bank customers. Compare AI tools for banks by category, or read the fintech and neobank AI dossiers.
What has Santander disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| AI contribution to 2028 targets | > €1 billion: ≈ €300m revenue, ≈ €700m cost[1] | Feb 25, 2026 |
| Webster acquisition | $12.3 billion; ≈ $327 billion combined assets at announcement[8] | Feb 3, 2026 |
| US customers after the deal | ≈ 8 million[15] | Aug 20, 2026 |
| Openbank US deposits, first year | $6 billion[9] | Apr 6, 2026 |
| US return on tangible equity target | 18% by 2028 (from 10% in 2025)[5] | Feb 25, 2026 |
| Santander auto lending scale cited at the FICO award | $60 billion portfolio; more than 3 million customers[18] | May 7, 2025 |
| Group AI business value and automation agents | €35 million in Q1 2026; more than 280 process-automation agents in production[20] | Jun 22, 2026 |
| Middle-income households seeing AI helping their finances | 9 in 10[22] | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Santander Holdings USA net income, Q2 2026 | $585 million, up 17.5% year on year[39] | Jun 30, 2026 |
| US segment, Q2 2026 | Profit €989 million (+26%); RoTE 13.2%; efficiency 45.8%[25] | Jul 22, 2026 |
| SHUSA plus Webster, reported balances | $251 billion assets; $142 billion loans; $150 billion deposits[39] | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Openbank US deposits | More than $10 billion[24] | Oct 1, 2026 |
| Webster cost savings and conversion timetable | $800 million by end-2028; core conversion by end-2027; about 14,000 staff[36] | Aug 20, 2026 |
| AI mentions in SHUSA's Q2 2026 10-Q | None (text search of the filing)[37] | Jul 31, 2026 |
| ChatGPT Enterprise rollout (group, Europe and the Americas) | Nearly 15,000 employees in two months; 30,000 targeted[29][30] | Aug 13, 2025 |
| Agentic AI in software development (group) | 17,000 users; 40% of code AI-generated in June 2026[20] | Jun 22, 2026 |
| Auto pricing tiers set by the automated custom score | 100, from FICO scores, DTI, LTV and over 30 other predictive factors[16] | Mar 2, 2026 |
“Customer growth, together with disciplined execution of ONE Transformation, will drive higher revenues and structurally lower costs.”[4]
Ana Botín · Executive Chair, Banco Santander · Feb 25, 2026
“FICO helped our modeling team reduce the number of tasks, allowing for our data team to focus on interpreting the analytics.”[18]
Bruce Jackson · Head of the Santander US Auto business and CEO of Santander Consumer · May 7, 2025
“This is a pivotal moment in Santander's long journey in the United States that underscores our confidence in the strength and opportunity in the U.S. market.”[15]
Christiana Riley · CEO, Santander US · Aug 20, 2026
“U.S. is a great example of the One Transformation benefits.”[25]
Héctor Grisi · CEO, Banco Santander · Jul 22, 2026
“our global technology platforms continue to improve productivity while we start to capture benefits from AI.”[25]
Héctor Grisi · CEO, Banco Santander · Jul 22, 2026
“artificial intelligence will be foundational to the future of banking, not a feature layered on top of it.”[27]
Ricardo Martín Manjón · Chief Data & AI Officer, Banco Santander · Jun 3, 2026
“We can't confuse our customers as to who can serve them until we can serve them across a single platform.”[36]
Christiana Riley · CEO, Santander US · Aug 20, 2026
“same level of curiosity and transformation that I am hopeful our entire organization is focused on”[24]
Christiana Riley · CEO, Santander US · Oct 1, 2026
“You used to put things into the technology development funnel, and they would call you 12 months later — the actual technology production is now right there.”[24]
Christiana Riley · CEO, Santander US · Oct 1, 2026
Who runs AI at Santander?
Christiana RileyLinkedIn ↗
John CiullaLinkedIn ↗
CEO, Santander Bank, N.A. (from the Webster acquisition; former Webster CEO)[8]
Ana BotínLinkedIn ↗
Drew BurchardLinkedIn ↗
Head of Digital Banking, combined bank (formerly head of product and platforms)[9]
Luis MassianiLinkedIn ↗
Chief Operating Officer, Santander US (integration lead; joint Technology & Operations)[17]
Vikram NafdeLinkedIn ↗
Chief Technology Officer, Santander US (technology shared services, infrastructure and architecture; ex-Webster)[17]
Ignacio SarquisLinkedIn ↗
CIO, Retail, Commercial & Digital Banking[17]
David McClellandLinkedIn ↗
Head of the Santander US Auto business (from January 2026)[19]
Bruce JacksonLinkedIn ↗
Former Head of the Santander US Auto business and CEO of Santander Consumer (retired January 2026)[18][19]
Bobby Mehra
CIO, Santander US Auto (continues after the Webster close)[17]
Xavier Courtois
CIO, Corporate & Investment Banking, Santander US[17]
Jose Oliveros
CIO, Wealth, Santander US[17]
Alberto Hernandez
Chief Information Security Officer, Santander US[17]
RL Prasad
Chief Risk Officer, Santander US (continues for the combined organisation)[17]
Patryk Nowakowski
Head of Technology & Operations, Santander US (joined January 2025; leaving after the close)[17]
Iñaki Bernal
Chief AI Officer, Grupo Santander (a group role; Santander US has no named chief AI officer of its own)[43]
Juan Olaizola
Group Chief Operating & Technology Officer, Banco Santander (functional line for the US COO)[17]
José Manuel de la Chica
Head of Santander AI Lab (group)[44]
Luis Ibáñez
Head of Responsible AI, Banco Santander (group)[45]
Héctor Grisi
Chief Executive Officer, Banco Santander[25]
Dan Griffiths
Former Group CIO, Santander US and Santander Bank (left February 2026 to become CIO of USAA)[47][11]
Swati BhatiaLinkedIn ↗
Former head of Openbank US and US retail (left June 2026)[9]
What AI roles is Santander hiring for?
Data as of · 1 AI-titled posting · read from Santander's own careers site, re-checked weekly
1 open AI-related posting on Santander's careers site as of Oct 25, 2026. A snapshot of current openings, not a source: postings close. Compare with other banks on which banks are hiring for AI.
posted
Which regulators govern Santander's AI?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| OCC | Santander Bank, N.A. is a national bank that has just absorbed Webster; group AI platforms used in US processes fall under OCC model-risk and gen-AI expectations. | OCC Bulletin 2026-13 OCC Semiannual Risk Perspective, Spring 2026 |
| Federal Reserve | Santander Holdings USA is the intermediate holding company; the Fed approved the Webster deal and supervises third-party relationships including Verizon and the group's technology providers. | SR 23-4 SR 26-2 |
| CFPB | Openbank, auto finance and agentic commerce put AI in consumer credit and payments, under ECOA and UDAAP. | ECOA / Regulation B adverse action (15 U.S.C. 1691(d); 12 CFR 1002.9) CFPB Chatbots in Consumer Finance (issue spotlight, 2023) |
| ECB | The ECB supervises the group and approved the Webster acquisition; its supervisory priorities cover AI in credit scoring and fraud. | SSM supervisory priorities 2026–28 Supervision Newsletter: AI use cases for credit scoring and fraud detection (Nov 2025) |
| EU AI Act | Group-wide AI tools and credit models are within the EU AI Act's scope for the parent. | Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 EBA factsheet: AI Act implications for the EU banking and payments sector |
Side by side: SR 11-7 vs SR 26-2 · OCC vs CFPB on AI lending · PRA SS1/23 vs SR 26-2 · MAS AI Risk Management Guidelines vs SR 26-2 · EU AI Act vs Colorado AI Act · all comparisons.
What does the public record suggest about Santander's AI strategy?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice.
01
A euro-denominated AI target meets a dollar-denominated integration
The €1 billion figure is a group number; the US contribution will be judged on whether Webster's systems land on ONE Transformation's shared platforms without disrupting nearly eight million customers.
02
Agentic commerce is where Santander is ahead of US peers
Getnet accepting agent-initiated payments puts the group in production on a question most US banks are still piloting; the US perimeter for that activity is the OCC and CFPB, not the ECB.
03
Openbank is the AI distribution channel
A digital bank that raised $6 billion in a year is the natural place for personalisation models; the departure of its founder-executive and the arrival of Webster's leadership change who owns it.
04
Consumer surveys are not disclosure
Santander US tells the market what customers think of AI but not what the bank runs. As a top-20 bank it will face the same disclosure expectations as peers reporting agent counts and budgets.
Where does the Santander record go deeper?
6 topic pages under this profile, each answering one question from the same sourced record.
- What is Santander's AI strategy in the United States?
- What AI research, patents and partnerships does Santander have?
- How does Santander govern AI responsibly?
- What technology stack does Santander run in the United States?
- How does Santander US use AI in auto finance?
- What proprietary AI has Santander built in-house?
- Has Santander US had a publicly reported AI incident?
Which leader rankings does Santander appear in?
6 of the computed leaders rankings include Santander, each ranked from the same sourced bank pages.
How does Santander compare with its peers?
- How does Santander US compare with its peers on AI and technology?
- Santander US competitors and alternatives, by business line
Its peer group on this site, by business model and size:
- Santander builds AI capabilities that improve performance and lower costs using NVIDIA AI infrastructure
- Santander Slashes AI Costs by 99% Using Specialized NVIDIA Infrastructure
- Santander Turns to Nvidia to Build New AI Banking Capabilities
- Santander bolsters AI capabilities through NVDIA
- Watch Santander's Ana Botin on US Growth, Debt, AI and the Global Economy | The David Rubenstein Show
Who leads AI at Santander US?
No head of AI or chief data officer for the US business is named in public records. AI is led from the group by Chief Data & AI Officer Ricardo Martín Manjón, with José Manuel de la Chica running Santander AI Lab and Luis Ibáñez heading Responsible AI. In the US, COO Luis Massiani oversees Technology & Operations; Vikram Nafde is CTO; Ignacio Sarquis, Bobby Mehra, Xavier Courtois and Jose Oliveros are CIOs for retail and commercial, auto, CIB and wealth; Alberto Hernandez is CISO. CEO Christiana Riley sets the tone, building a CRM tool with AI herself.
How much does Santander expect AI to contribute?
More than €1 billion by 2028, according to executive chair Ana Botín at the February 2026 investor day: about €300 million of extra revenue and €700 million of lower costs, delivered through customer primacy, cross-selling and agentic commerce as part of the ONE Transformation programme.
What did Santander's Webster deal change in the US?
Completed on 20 August 2026 for $12.3 billion, it made Santander a top-20 US bank with nearly eight million customers and an expanded Northeast footprint. Webster's CEO John Ciulla became CEO of Santander Bank, N.A., Christiana Riley stayed US country head, and Santander's Drew Burchard took charge of digital banking for the combined bank.
Does Santander US mention AI in its SEC filings?
Only as a risk. Santander Holdings USA's 2025 10-K, filed on 2 March 2026, says it uses AI to improve customer experience and reduce operational risk, and warns of flawed or biased models, misleading third-party outputs, concentration in a few model providers, AI-enabled cyberattacks, and the cost of human oversight, testing and independent model validation. Its Q1 2026 10-Q (4 May) and Q2 2026 10-Q (31 July) contain no mention of AI. Targets, budgets and tool counts appear only in group materials.
Which AI partners does Santander use in the United States?
The group names OpenAI (ChatGPT Enterprise for nearly 15,000 staff in Europe and the Americas by August 2025), Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic and Google tools, and signed a memorandum with G42 on 3 June 2026. Mastercard and Visa agent-payment pilots ran in Europe and Latin America. In the US, the named technology partners are FICO for machine-learning credit risk in auto lending and AutoFi for the Drive dealer platform. Santander does not say which group tools its US staff use.
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