Our success is based on a clear purpose,
aim and approach to business.
We are building a more responsible bank.
We are building a more responsible bank.
Our purpose
To help people and businesses prosper.
Our aim as a bank
To be the best open fnancial services platform, by acting responsibly and earning the lasting loyalty of our people, customers, shareholders and communities.
Our how
Everything we do should be Simple, Personal and Fair.
- In order to better identify the talent needed by the Group and quantify the skills required for the future, we are progressing with the Strategic Workforce Planning in more countries following the first pilot phase.
- We also completed the development and design of the Workday platform of the OneTeam programme and began the testing phase in the first countries which will launch the global talent management system this year to strengthen our employer brand and improve the experience of our professionals.
- We strengthened The Santander Way, our global culture, with a new series of Leadership Commitments defined from the contribution of more than 300 colleagues from 28 Group units: be open and inclusive; inspire and implement transformation; lead by example; support the team in progressing.
- The first Young Leaders Summit was held, at which 280 very talented young people from all countries had the opportunity to expand their networking, strengthen their strategic vision and develop leadership, creativity and communication skills.
- We continued our digital transformation in order to improve the customer experience and loyalty. Progress was reflected in the increase of 1.8 million loyal customers and 6.5 million digital customers in the 12 months since March 2018, as well as being among the Top 3 in customer satisfaction in seven of our main countries.
- Of note among these measures were those performed by our consumer business, such as the signing in Mexico of an agreement with Suzuki to be its main financial partner, and in Germany, the agreement to acquire 51% of Hyundai Kia’s financial entity.
- We continued to strengthen our traditional branches and develop new models (SMART, Súper Ágil and Work Café), while investing in new generation ATMs and in our Contact Centres.
- In digitalisation, progress was made in all countries in apps, platforms, products and services. Particularly noteworthy at the global level was the expansion of Openbank with its next launch of testing in Germany. The next two countries for Openbank's expansion this year are the Netherlands and Portugal.
- In the 2019 annual ordinary general meeting, held on 12 April, a new record quorum of 68.5% was reached, in which one million shareholders including ADR and CDI holders participated. In line with the Group's digital strategy, online participation increased 73% compared to last year and blockchain technology was used to facilitate the participation of institutional and retail shareholders.
- We held an Investor Day in London, where the Group's strategy was set out, announcing our medium-term objectives and how they will be executed. Santander is the first bank in the world to obtain AENOR’s certification for sustainable events management for its Investor Day, a recognition which has been given to its annual general meeting since 2017.
- The magazine Institutional Investor recognised Santander as one of Europe’s best companies. Our Chief Financial Officer was also recognised as one of the Top 3 CFOs in Europe, our head of shareholder and investor relations as among the Top 3 in that category and his team as the second best in its category.
- The World Bank recognised the Group’s leadership in climate change and gender equality matters. As regards the latter, we obtained the highest score for the second straight year in the Bloomberg Gender Index out of 230 companies, and we launched the ninth edition of the Santander UCLA Business School W50 programme for high performance training of female executives.
- The British International Finance magazine awarded Santander Mexico for the third time its prize as the Most Socially Responsible Bank in Mexico, as a part of the International Finance Banking Awards.