Banco Santander, the Spanish parent company of Santander UK, has announced plans to cut costs by more than 500 million euros (£433 million) by accelerating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across its global operations. The group is targeting over one billion euros (£860 billion) in extra revenues and cost savings from AI between 2026 and 2028, with more than half expected to come from cost cutting.
AI-Driven Savings and Automation
The savings will be generated through automation, productivity gains, and process simplification. The lending giant did not disclose how many jobs will be impacted by the plan, although it is understood the group has not announced a workforce reduction programme linked to the AI rollout. Banco Santander expects to deliver more than 200 million euros (£173.4 million) in “business value” – comprising extra revenues and cost savings – from AI group-wide, including its British banking arm Santander UK, by the end of 2026 alone. The company reported it achieved 35 million euros (£30.3 million) in benefit during the first three months of the year, with that figure set to increase in the second quarter.
Widespread AI Access for Staff
The firm is rolling out AI access to all of its 185,000 staff worldwide, including around 15,000 in the UK, in a major push for group-wide adoption of the technology. Currently, nearly 40,000 staff are actively using AI. Ricardo Martin Manjon, Banco Santander’s chief data and AI officer, said: “Santander is moving from AI ambition to execution. One year after setting out our ambition to become a data and AI-first bank, artificial intelligence is already helping us improve how we work, serve customers, manage risk and run the bank. Santander already has a clear AI strategy, measurable impact and the scale to turn selected capabilities into group-wide value. We are not starting from theory: AI is already improving processes, supporting our teams and opening new opportunities across the bank. Now the opportunity is to move forward with focus, discipline and ambition.”
Industry-Wide AI Adoption
Banks worldwide are increasingly turning to AI to cut costs. The boss of Standard Chartered recently sparked controversy after suggesting AI would replace “lower-value human capital” as the bank announced around 7,800 job cuts. Bill Winters, the Asian-focused bank’s chief executive, later backtracked on the comments, saying they were taken “out of context”. Most banks have yet to quantify the financial benefit of AI, although Lloyds Banking Group earlier this year stated that the tech had directly provided a £50 million profit boost in 2025 through revenue gains and cost savings.
AI for Customer Service and Growth
Santander’s Mr Martin Manjon stressed that AI “is not only about efficiency”, adding: “It is also opening new opportunities for growth.” Among its plans to increase AI use, the bank is rolling out the technology within its voice channels in the UK to assist with customer card-related queries. The group has a target for around 240,000 calls – 40% of calls received each year – to be resolved through self-service, which it claims would save customers approximately 26,000 hours and give service teams around 45,000 hours “back to focus on more complex needs”.
