Santander is going to merge its digital bank Openbank with its consumer financing business in Europe as part of an initiative to simplify its structure and reduce costs, as reported by the Spanish bank this Wednesday.
The new entity will manage Santander’s consumer financing operations under the Openbank brand, starting with Germany, which will be followed by other markets, Santander said.
Openbank and Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) are part of the group’s global digital consumer banking business. In Europe, this business has 84 billion euros ($98 billion) in customer deposits.
SCF is the leader in car financing in Europe with more than 140,000 million euros in loans.
Streamlining digital operations
In 2023, Santander launched retail, wealth and corporate, consumer, payments and investment banking units to try to improve efficiency and increase their value.
The largest financial institution in the euro zone by market value did not disclose the potential cost savings of the merger.
Nitin Prabhu, global head of digital consumer banking at Santander, said the combination would result in “a more efficient, innovative and future-ready digital bank”.
Santander, which focuses on 10 major markets, is building its own technology platform for consumer banking and digital banking.
Openbank currently operates in Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands and has expanded to the United States and Mexico. In recent years, Openbank and SCF have forged alliances with companies such as Apple, Amazon and Vodafone in several European countries.
Santander says the integration will allow customers to access a wider range of products through a unified digital platform.
