Our mission is be the best retail and commercial bank that earns the lasting loyalty of our employees, customers, shareholders and communities. Progress has been made in the following areas during the second quarter of the year.
- Progress was made in installing the Workday platform (One Team programme), which will enable us to have a talent pool at the global level, manage talent in a more Simple, Personal and Fair way and enhance the experience of our professionals.
- The first phase of the Strategic Workforce Planning was carried out in the UK, Mexico and the Corporate Centre. This project aims to identify the talent needed in the medium- and short-term, quantifying the skills required for the future. Action plans have been put into effect in these countries.
- Behaviours in the life cycle of employees continued to be incorporated. Of note was the consolidation of MyContribution, the performance management model where the achievement of results is balanced with how they are attained. Another example are succession plans, where behaviours are key.
- We are Santander week, a global initiative for transmitting Santander’s culture to its employees, as well as fostering pride in belonging to the Group, was held for the 11th time.
- Various strategies continued to be developed under the commercial transformation programme in order to improve customer loyalty and experience. The number of loyal customers rose by 2.8 million and digital ones by 5.3 million year-on-year.
- Of note among the commercial actions implemented in the second quarter were the launch of the 1|2|3 Profesional in Spain (the first joint offer from Santander and Popular), the launch of the first digital SME account for companies under the SAS regime (Company for Simplified Actions) in Mexico and the good results of Santander Life in Chile.
- As regards digitalisation, in Brazil we launched the new app for managing sales. In Spain, the first operations of we.trade, a blockchain-based platform that facilitates the internationalisation of companies, were made. In Argentina, the new online banking service continued to be well received.
- In mobile banking, Poland now offers five ways to pay: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay, BLIK and HCE. In the UK, we were the first bank to offer Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay.
- Santander’s investor relations was ranked top in Spain and second among European banks by the Extel survey, which includes responses from 11,000 investment professionals.
- For the third year running, the IR Magazine Awards recognised Santander as one of the best European companies and banks in investor relations in Europe. We were rated first in the categories of Best Use of Multimedia for IR, Best IR during a Corporate Transaction and Best Investor Relations Event, and third in Best in IR Financial Sector (banks and insurance) and in Best Investor Relations Officer in Europe (all sectors).
- A survey was conducted among investors, analysts and shareholders in Spain and the UK to assess the implanting of the corporate culture and our contribution to progress.
- Santander joined the responsible banking initiative promoted by the United Nations. Together with 25 other big banks from five continents, we will develop principles for adapting the financial sector to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.
- At an event presided by HM Queen Letizia, Ana Botín awarded the prizes on 7 May to the ten winning projects of the 10th Convening of Banco Santander’s Social projects, financed by the Euros from your Payroll fund.
- For the ninth year running, Banco Santander turned off the lights in the most emblematic buildings in its 10 core markets and in its branch network, as part of the WWF’s Earth Hour campaign.
- Some 20,800 kg of food was collected during the We are Santander Week and delivered to the Red Cross.