Santander expects its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver €1bn in business value, through cost-cutting and revenue growth.
Presenting its plan for the next two years at an event in London, the Spanish heritage bank said data and AI are important parts of its wider One Transformation digital programme.
At the investor event, Santander presented its 2026-28 plans, which included a target to increase its customer base from 180 million today to 200 million by 2028. Santander announced its planned acquisition of TSB last year, which will see the bank’s UK customer base grow by about five million.
The bank also outlined the business value that data and artificial intelligence will deliver by 2028.
It said that by 2028, it expects to generate over €1bn of business value annually, in terms of cost savings and revenues, from data and AI initiatives.
“Investments in data and AI are a key lever of One Transformation, fully embedded in the businesses, and focused on hyper-personalised customer journeys, AI-powered frontline productivity and end-to-end process automation,” Santander said in a statement.
The bank’s executive chair, Ana Botín, said: “We are building a global financial services platform, leveraging a decade of investment in technology and AI.”
AI acceleration
The bank accelerated its use of AI last year after making €200m in cost savings the year before. In August 2025, it announced mandatory AI training for all of its staff starting this year, in its plan to make the technology part of its DNA.
As well as the mandatory AI training plan for all employees, which includes teaching responsible AI use, the bank is offering training to its development, marketing and frontline staff.
Santander is not the only bank reaping the benefits from AI. The number of UK banks reporting productivity gains from the technology has doubled as projects move from pilots to production.
According to Lloyds Banking Group’s latest Financial institutions sentiment survey, 59% of surveyed firms reported AI-driven productivity gains in the past 12 months, compared with 32% in the 2024 survey.
Banks also reported rising returns from AI in other areas. The latest survey found that 21% of respondents believe AI is directly driving business growth, compared with 8% in the survey a year ago.
Meanwhile, a third (33%) of respondents said AI is enhancing customer experiences, up from 14% in the previous survey. The same number said they have deeper customer insights through AI, compared with 18% in last year’s survey.
Cost-cutting has limits
While banks can save huge amounts in operating costs through AI, they must use it to improve customer experiences and offerings or face reduced profits.
According to McKinsey’s latest report, while AI savings could be up to 20%, taking account of the cost of the technology, banking industry profits could fall 9% as customers move money based on AI agent recommendations.
“The impact of savings, while welcome, won’t last,” McKinsey said. “As with earlier innovations, competition will likely erode the gains for banks and most of the benefits will accrue to customers over time.”
The report said $23tn of the global total of $70tn in consumer deposits sits in current accounts with zero interest rates, with much of the remainder in low-interest accounts.
“If just 5% to 10% of [current account] balances migrated to top-of-market rates, an action that might be prompted by AI agents, that could reduce the banking industry’s total deposit profits by 20% or more,” McKinsey said.
