How is AI changing Santander's workforce in the U.S.?
Santander's AI workforce program is run by the group, and the U.S. figures on record are headcount and merger savings. The group extended AI access to all 185,000 employees on June 22, 2026, up from nearly 40,000 active users; between 2025 and April 2026 some 35,000 group employees received over 125,000 hours of AI training, centered on the AI DO Academy, and in August 2025 the group said a mandatory AI training plan for all employees would start in 2026 with a 'Responsible AI' module. In May 2026 more than 17,000 people worked with agentic AI in software development, and 40% of all code in June was developed by AI. None of this is broken out for the U.S. There, Santander Holdings USA reported approximately 11,800 employees at the end of 2023, 10,700 at the end of 2024 and 10,300 at the end of 2025. The Webster acquisition, closed on August 20, 2026, takes the combined workforce to around 14,000, and the $800 million of savings targeted by the end of 2028 is to come mainly from integrating technology platforms and 'de-duplication' of back-office jobs, U.S. CEO Christiana Riley told American Banker. The group expects data and AI to produce more than €1 billion of annual business value by 2028, about €700 million of it from lower costs. No U.S. AI training figures or AI-attributed job cuts are disclosed.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Data as of Oct 31, 2026 · Santander profile updated Oct 21, 2026 · 22 sources cited on this page · 141 banks profiled on this site · Markdown
How has Santander's U.S. headcount changed, and what will Webster mean for jobs?
Year-end figures are from the Santander Holdings USA (SHUSA) 10-K human capital sections; the 2023 figure covers 'all of Santander U.S.'.
| As of | Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 31, 2023 | Employees | Approximately 11,800; 12-month voluntary attrition 10.6% | 2023 Form 10-K[4] |
| December 31, 2024 | Employees | Approximately 10,700; voluntary attrition 10.2% | 2024 Form 10-K[5] |
| December 31, 2025 | Employees | Approximately 10,300; voluntary attrition 9.5% | 2025 Form 10-K[6] |
| August 20, 2026 | Combined with Webster | Around 14,000 people, per Christiana Riley | American Banker[7] |
| August 20, 2026 | Where the savings come from | $800 million by the end of 2028, mainly integrating technology platforms and 'de-duplication' of back-office jobs such as accounting and risk management; branch closures 'not a meaningful part' | American Banker[7] |
| October 29, 2026 | Job cuts | Savings from technology integration and vendor consolidation; job cuts expected in back-end roles | Boston Business Journal[10] |
What AI tools and training does Santander give its employees?
Group-wide figures (Europe and the Americas) unless marked U.S.; Santander does not publish a U.S. share.
| Date | Measure | What was said |
|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | ChatGPT Enterprise | Rolled out to nearly 15,000 employees in Europe and the Americas in two months; 30,000 users expected by year-end, approximately 15% of the workforce[3] |
| August 2025 | Training plan | Tailored AI training by role and market (learning capsules, workshops, hackathons); a mandatory AI training plan for all employees from 2026, with a core 'Responsible AI' module[3] |
| February 25, 2026 | Value target | More than €1 billion of annual business value from data and AI by 2028, about €300 million of revenue and €700 million of cost savings, with AI-powered frontline productivity as one lever[8][9] |
| June 9, 2026 | AI DO Academy | Some 35,000 employees received over 125,000 hours of AI training between 2025 and April 2026; over 42,000 people in the global AI community; over 600 trained as AI Catalysts; the Data & AI operating model has over 4,500 employees[2] |
| June 22, 2026 | Coding | Over 17,000 people working with agentic AI in software development in May 2026; 40% of all code in June developed by AI[1] |
| June 22, 2026 | AI for all | AI access extended to all 185,000 employees, from nearly 40,000 active users; Microsoft Copilot for productivity, plus OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini for specialized uses[1] |
| October 1, 2026 | U.S. CEO | Riley is using AI to 'vibe code' a custom CRM tool for the Webster integration: 'the actual technology production is now right there' (U.S.)[11] |
What is disclosed about AI and jobs at Santander's U.S. business specifically?
The U.S. filing describes training in general terms: compliance curriculums, workplace safety awareness, specialized job role training and information security training, with no AI program named. The group's AI DO Academy is described as a global space for all employees, so U.S. staff are in scope, but no U.S. participation figure is given.[6][2]
The U.S. headcount fell from approximately 11,800 at the end of 2023 to 10,300 at the end of 2025, before Webster added scale. The filings do not attribute the decline to AI, and the 2025 10-K's AI discussion is about risk: AI 'designed to improve the customer experience and reduce operational risk', and models that 'may be flawed, trained on insufficient or poor-quality data, reflect unwanted forms of bias'.[4][6]
Not disclosed: the U.S. share of the 185,000 employees with AI access or of the training hours, how many Webster and Santander roles the back-office de-duplication will remove, and whether AI is used to absorb that work.[1][7]
What does the Santander profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the Santander AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 21, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 37 dated moves, 16 use cases and 49 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI tools for all employees (group) | Extended to the whole workforce in June 2026 toward the €1 billion value target. | In production | [12] |
| AI risk-factor disclosure | The 10-K covers flawed or biased models, poor-quality training data, misleading outputs from third-party AI and AI-enabled cyberattacks. | In production | [6] |
| Multi-vendor model stack (group) | 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 | [13][3][6] |
| Agentic AI in software development (group) | 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 | [1][3] |
| Executive 'vibe coding' with AI | US CEO Christiana Riley personally builds a custom CRM tool with AI to support the Webster integration. | In production | [11] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | Riley: AI lets her 'vibe code' a CRM tool herself | 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. | [11] |
| Aug 20, 2026 | Riley: core conversion by end of 2027, $800 million of savings | 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. | [7] |
| Aug 20, 2026 | Webster acquisition completed | Nearly eight million US customers; an expanded Northeast footprint. | [14] |
| Aug 12, 2026 | Q2 fixed-income deck: $585 million net income | 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. | [15] |
| Jul 31, 2026 | Q2 10-Q filed, again with no AI language | Santander Holdings USA's second-quarter 2026 10-Q describes the Webster merger and SBNA's Openbank platform but has no AI discussion. | [16] |
| Jun 22, 2026 | AI tools for all employees | Toward the €1 billion 2026–2028 business-value goal. | [12] |
| Jun 3, 2026 | Group signs AI memorandum with G42 | 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. | [17] |
| Apr 6, 2026 | Post-deal management named | Burchard to lead digital banking; Bhatia to leave; Webster's Motl to lead commercial. | [18] |
| Feb 3, 2026 | Agrees to buy Webster for $12.3 billion | Riley stays US country head; Webster's Ciulla to run Santander Bank, N.A. | [19][20] |
| Aug 13, 2025 | Group tie-up with OpenAI | ChatGPT Enterprise reaches nearly 15,000 employees across Europe and the Americas within two months; the group targets 30,000 users. | [3][21] |
| Oct 21, 2024 | Openbank launches in the United States | 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. | [22] |
How many employees does Santander have in the U.S.?
Santander Holdings USA reported approximately 10,300 employees at December 31, 2025, down from about 10,700 a year earlier and 11,800 at the end of 2023. After the Webster acquisition closed on August 20, 2026, U.S. CEO Christiana Riley put the combined workforce at around 14,000.
Will the Webster deal cut jobs at Santander US?
Some, in the back office. Riley told American Banker that the $800 million of savings targeted by the end of 2028 will come mainly from integrating technology platforms and de-duplicating back-office jobs such as accounting and risk management, and that branch closures are not a meaningful part. No number of roles has been given, and AI is not named as the cause.
Do Santander US employees have AI tools?
Santander extended AI access to all 185,000 group employees on June 22, 2026, including Microsoft Copilot and, for specialized uses, ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini; the U.S. is part of the group rollout, but no U.S. user count is published. Earlier, ChatGPT Enterprise reached nearly 15,000 employees across Europe and the Americas in two months in 2025.
How does Santander train employees on AI?
Through the AI DO Academy and tailored programs: some 35,000 group employees received over 125,000 hours of AI training between 2025 and April 2026, more than 600 have trained as AI Catalysts, and a mandatory AI training plan with a Responsible AI module was set to start in 2026. U.S. training figures are not disclosed.
Is Santander US hiring for AI?
Not visibly. BankingNewsAI's weekly read of santandercareers.com on October 27, 2026 found no open roles with AI in the title for the U.S. business. Postings change weekly and are not cited as sources; see /banks/ai-hiring for the current list across banks.
- Santander turns its AI-first strategy into measurable impact and extends AI access to all 185,000 employees
- AI at Santander: From learning to practical use
- Santander's data & AI-first strategy accelerates through OpenAI collaboration
- Santander Holdings USA, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2023
- Santander Holdings USA, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2024
- Santander Holdings USA, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025
- Santander isn't rushing into Webster integration: US CEO
- 2026 Santander Investor Day
- Santander's Botin Sees €1 Billion AI Boost Amid Efficiency Push
- Santander expects $800M in savings from $12.3B Webster Bank merger (preview)
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch, #1, Christiana Riley, Santander U.S.
- Santander Equips All Workers With AI and Seeks $1.15 Billion Business Value
- Banco Santander Rolls Out AI Tools To All Workers As Early Results Demonstrate Clear Business Value
- Santander Expands U.S. Presence with Completion of Webster Acquisition
- Santander Holdings USA, Inc. Second Quarter 2026 Fixed Income Investor Presentation
- Santander Holdings USA, Inc. Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended 30 June 2026
- Banco Santander and G42 sign Memorandum of Understanding to explore strategic cooperation in Artificial Intelligence
- Santander, Webster lay out post-deal management plan
- Santander to buy Webster for $12.3B
- Santander aims to become big retail bank in US with $12.2 billion Webster deal
- Santander partners with OpenAI to drive AI-first banking
- Santander launches Openbank in the US, expanding its consumer banking business nationwide
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