The Spanish owner of Santander UK has revealed aims to cut costs by more than 500 million euros (£433 million) by accelerating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across its global operations.
Banco Santander said it is targeting more than one billion euros (£860 billion) in extra revenues and cost savings from AI between 2026 and 2028, with over half expected to come through cost cutting.
The savings are set to come from automation, productivity gains and process simplification.
The lending giant did not disclose how many jobs will be impacted as part of the plan.
It is understood the group has not announced a programme to cut its workforce linked to the AI rollout.
Banco Santander expects to deliver more than 200 million euros (£173.4 million) in “business value” – extra revenues and cost savings – from AI group-wide, including British banking arm Santander UK, by the end of 2026 alone.
It said it notched up 35 million euros (£30.3 million) of benefit in the first three months of the year, which is set to increase in the second quarter.
The firm is also rolling out AI access to all of its 185,000 staff worldwide, including around 15,000 in the UK, in a major ramping up of group-wide adoption of the tech.
It said 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.”
Banks worldwide are increasingly turning to AI to help cut costs.
The boss of Standard Chartered recently caused controversy after suggesting AI would replace “lower-value human capital” as the bank announced around 7,800 jobs were being cut.
Bill Winters, the Asian-focused bank’s chief executive, quickly rowed back on the comments after sparking a backlash, saying the words were taken “out of context”.
Most banks have yet to put a figure on the financial benefit of AI, although Lloyds Banking Group said earlier this year the tech had directly provided a £50 million profit boost in 2025 through both revenue gains and cost savings.
Santander’s Mr Martin Manjon stressed AI is “not only about efficiency”, adding: “It is also opening new opportunities for growth.”
Among its plans to increase the use of AI, it is rolling out the tech within its voice channels in the UK to help with customer card-related queries.
The group said it 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 around 26,000 hours and give service teams around 45,000 hours “back to focus on more complex needs”.
