Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're trying to map out the core engine of a financial behemoth, and honestly, the Business Model Canvas for Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) shows a fascinating balancing act as of late 2025. This isn't just a local bank; it's a global machine serving 178 million customers across the Americas and Europe, aggressively pushing digital transformation through platforms like Openbank while still relying on its massive physical branch footprint. If you want to see exactly how they generate revenue-especially how their Retail Banking segment pulls in 74% of total profits-and what strategic partnerships underpin this dual-focus strategy, you need to look closely at the nine building blocks below.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at how Banco Santander, S.A. builds value through its external relationships, which is key for scaling its global platform ambitions. These aren't just vendor agreements; they are strategic alignments that unlock capital and market access. It's defintely about smart co-investment.

Strategic collaboration with Erste Group Bank AG for CIB and payments

Banco Santander, S.A. entered into a significant agreement with Erste Group Bank AG on May 5, 2025. This deal involved Erste Group acquiring a 49% controlling stake in Santander Bank Polska (SBP) and a 50% direct stake in the asset management firm Santander Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. The total cash consideration for this transaction was €7.0 billion. The transaction is targeted for completion by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025, pending regulatory approval. This move is expected to temporarily impact Erste Group's capital ratios, with a forecast drop in their risk-adjusted capital ratio to between 10.5% and 11.0% by year-end 2025, down from an estimated 12.4% at year-end 2024, based on the 100% cash financing assumption.

European Investment Bank (EIB) for financing working capital for SMEs

Banco Santander, S.A. actively partners with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to inject capital into Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Mid-Caps across its operating regions. These arrangements often involve securitisation operations to leverage the EIB's financing capacity. For instance, in June 2025, a securitisation operation worth €569.5 million was signed to direct around €1.08 billion towards green transition and competitiveness financing for Spanish SMEs and Mid-caps. Also, in May 2025, Santander Portugal secured EUR 400 million from the EIB, earmarking EUR 75 million specifically for the agricultural sector and EUR 325 million for general SME and MidCap investment.

Here's a look at some of the recent EIB-backed financing initiatives:

Partnerships with over 1,100 universities and institutions for education

Banco Santander, S.A.'s commitment to education, employability, and entrepreneurship is deeply rooted in its academic network. The bank has worked with more than 1,100 universities and organizations over nearly 30 years, supporting over 3.7 million people and businesses through these collaborations. In 2024 alone, the investment in these three areas totaled EUR 104 million, with a commitment to deploy an additional EUR 400 million between 2023 and 2026.

The reach of these academic partnerships includes:

• Over 1,100 universities and organizations globally in collaboration agreements.
• More than 3.7 million people and businesses supported over the nearly 30-year history.
• EUR 2.4 billion invested in these pillars over the history.
• In 2024, more than two million people accessed learning via Santander Open Academy.
• Santander US awarded $13 million in grants to over 30 US institutions for 2025 and 2026.

Fintech partners attracted via unified API platform in markets like Mexico

Banco Santander, S.A. is building an open financial services platform, which relies on partnerships with technology providers. The strategy involves attracting fintech partners through a unified API platform, though specific late 2025 metrics on the number of partners or transaction volume in markets like Mexico are not yet public.

NGOs and humanitarian organizations for social action and financial education

The bank channels its social responsibility efforts through external bodies. In 2024, Banco Santander deployed over EUR 62 million to programs prioritizing financial education and support for vulnerable people and groups, often working directly with NGOs and humanitarian organizations. This contributed to a total of five million people benefiting from the bank's social action and education initiatives across its operating countries in 2024.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

The Key Activities for Banco Santander, S.A. center on maintaining scale across core geographies while aggressively driving technological efficiency and strategic growth in specialized areas like payments and corporate finance. You see this in their ongoing operations and major strategic moves.

Global Retail & Commercial banking operations and lending

Banco Santander, S.A. focuses on its core function as a massive global lender and deposit taker across its 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, serving 173 million customers as of early 2025. The scale of the balance sheet reflects this activity, with Loans and advances to customers reaching EUR 1,065,294 million and customer deposits at EUR 1,077,885 million as of September 30, 2025 (9M'25), even after accounting for the Poland disposal.

The bank's sheer size in the eurozone is a key operational metric; as of June 30, 2025, Banco Santander, S.A. was the 1st Bank in the eurozone by market capitalization at EUR 104,599 million. The overall performance of the lending and deposit-taking engine is strong, with Attributable Profit up 15.7% year-over-year for the first nine months of 2025.

Accelerating digital transformation and cloud migration for cost reduction

A critical activity is the internal transformation, often referred to as the ONE Transformation, aimed at structural operational leverage. Management reiterated its commitment to further reduce absolute costs in euro terms for 2025. This focus on efficiency is showing results; the bank achieved an efficiency ratio of 41.5% in H1 2025. The transformation efforts are structural, with the ONE initiative alone gaining 2.4 percentage points in efficiency since 2022. This drive is necessary to maintain profitability as rate hikes subside, with the 2025 RoTE target set at approximately 16.5% (post-AT1).

The bank uses its scale to build proprietary technology platforms, which it views as a key competitive advantage to constantly reduce the cost-to-serve. This activity is about simplifying offerings and migrating core technology to the cloud.

Managing a global payments platform through PagoNxt and Global Cards

Managing the payments ecosystem is a key activity, diversifying risk away from pure lending. The Payments division, which includes PagoNxt and Cards, posted an EBITDA margin of 28.6% in Q1 2025. PagoNxt, the merchant-facing division, is a major focus for growth. For H1 2024, PagoNxt revenue was €583 million, with an EBITDA margin of 20.1%. The division continues to drive down unit costs; in Q1 2025, the cost per transaction was 3.3 cents, representing a 6.9% reduction year-over-year.

The strategic activity here is scaling open-market revenue-business from customers outside the existing Santander ecosystem. Open Market revenue for PagoNxt reached €88 million in Q1 2025, a 53.8% increase year-over-year. The target for PagoNxt revenue growth in 2025 is around 30%, which would imply an H1 2025 revenue of around €758 million and an EBITDA margin of c.30%.

Key operational metrics for the payments platform include:

• Getnet transactions in Q1 2025: 2.5 billion.
• Total Payments Volume (Getnet) in Q1 2025: €55.8 billion.
• Cards spending in Q1 2025: €81.2 billion.

Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) and Wealth Management services

Banco Santander, S.A. actively engages in providing CIB and Wealth Management services, which are distinct segments of its business model. The bank is focused on accelerating the wealth business's connectivity with customers using its global platforms. Furthermore, a strategic collaboration was announced in Q2 2025 with Erste Group Bank AG to leverage Santander's global payments platforms within CIB.

The overall financial performance of the group supports these activities, with the 2025 annual revenue objective set around €62 billion.

Strategic M&A, like the TSB acquisition for GBP 2.65 billion (approx. EUR 3.1 billion)

A major recent activity was the agreement reached in July 2025 to acquire 100% of TSB Banking Group plc from Banco de Sabadell, S.A. for £2.65 billion (approximately €3.1 billion) in an all-cash transaction. This move is designed to significantly enhance Santander UK's market presence, aiming to make it the third-largest bank by personal current account balances. The acquisition is expected to generate a return on invested capital of over 20% and is projected to be accretive to earnings per share from the first year.

The integration activity is projected to yield significant cost synergies, expected to reach at least £400 million pre-tax, which is 13% of the merged entity's cost base. Operationally, TSB adds 5 million customers, £34 billion in mortgages, and £35 billion in deposits to the UK business. The transaction is expected to consume 50 basis points of CET1 capital, with Santander maintaining a pro forma CET1 ratio near 13% at year-end 2025.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) relies on to run its business as of late 2025. These aren't just numbers; they represent the scale and stability of the operation.

The sheer scale of the client base is a primary resource. This massive reach provides a stable foundation for cross-selling and digital adoption efforts. Also, the bank maintains a strong capital buffer, which is critical for weathering any near-term market turbulence you might be watching.

Here's the quick math on the core quantitative resources as of 9M'25:

Beyond the balance sheet and customer count, the technology infrastructure and specialized business units are key intangible resources. These platforms are what drive future growth and efficiency improvements.

• Massive global customer base of 178 million as of 9M'25.
• Strong capital position with a fully-loaded CET1 ratio of 13.1% as of September 2025.
• Global network of 7,389 branches and 201,304 employees as of 9M'25.
• Digital platforms: Openbank (digital challenger) and PagoNxt (payments).
• Customer deposits plus mutual funds of €1,230 billion as of 9M'25.

To be fair, the 13.1% CET1 ratio is a concrete figure showing capital strength, well above the minimum regulatory requirements you'd expect. The €1,230 billion in customer funds, excluding repos, is the core funding base. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core value Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) delivers across its global footprint as of late 2025. It's about scale, simplicity, and specialized service, all underpinned by a massive digital push.

The bank's primary value is its global, diversified financial services across Europe and the Americas. This isn't just a footprint; it's a massive, interconnected network serving a huge base.

• Global customer base stands at approximately 178 million across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.
• The operating model is built on globally-diversified subsidiaries with a model of global business supported by global platforms.

For the everyday customer, the proposition centers on simple, personal, and fair financial solutions. They are actively growing this base, adding more than seven million new customers over the past 12 months, reaching the 178 million total as of September 2025.

The digital-first banking channel, Openbank, is a major value driver, especially in the U.S. market where it launched in October 2024. This platform offers a simple, safe, and rewarding digital experience.

Here's the quick math on its U.S. digital deposit success:

Still, Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) offers high-touch, specialized Wealth Management for those needing more complex solutions, including Ultra-High Net Worth individuals and Family Offices. This division integrates Private Banking, Asset Management, and Insurance.

The scale of this operation is significant, with reported figures showing strong growth:

• Assets under Management for Wealth Management & Insurance reached €536 billion.
• Total assets under management in Wealth Management reached a record level of EUR 511 billion in Q1 2025.
• Attributable profit for Wealth Management & Insurance in Q1 2025 was EUR 471 million, up 25% year-on-year.

Finally, the commitment to financial inclusion is a stated value, moving beyond the initial goal. They are actively working to empower people through access, financing, and education.

What this estimate hides is that they already beat the original goal:

• Original goal: Empower 10 million people by 2025.
• Achieved by end of 2022: 11.8 million people.
• New commitment: Financially empower a further five million people between 2023 and 2025, aiming for a total of 15 million by 2025.
• In 2022 alone, they financed over 1.1 million retail customers and SMEs struggling with credit.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

Banco Santander, S.A. is building relationships across 178 million customers as of the first nine months of 2025, a 7 million year-over-year increase. The bank is targeting 200 million customers by the end of 2025.

Dedicated relationship managers for CIB and Private Banking clients

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB) supports corporate and institutional clients with tailored services. The bank has a global division for this segment. The bank launched a dedicated Digital Solutions team within Santander CIB.

Automated, self-service digital channels via mobile app and online banking

The transformation strategy focuses on becoming a digital bank with branches, combining technology with team expertise. Digital onboarding time in Brazil is less than three minutes. In Spain, over 60% of the customer base uses mobile apps regularly. The bank reduced its number of products by more than a third in 2024.

• Digital transactions in Spain grew 15% in Q1 2024.
• Santander Bank N.A. (US) has 1.8 million customers.
• Openbank by Santander US surpassed 100,000 customers in its first six months (by May 2025).
• Openbank (US digital unit) attracted $6.75 billion in deposits in its first nine months of 2025.

Building lasting relationships through customer satisfaction and loyalty focus

Customer centricity is a strategic principle for growth and profitability. The bank measures experience using metrics including the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Digital customers show higher satisfaction, and those using both the app and branch are the most satisfied.

Targeted financial education programs for vulnerable groups

Santander has a commitment to financial education spanning over three decades, investing more than €2.4 billion in educational projects worldwide. The bank announced a new target to financially empower 15 million people by 2025. In 2022 alone, Santander helped empower 5.5 million people.

• Over 4 million people worldwide accessed financial education initiatives in 2024.
• Globally, only 20% of consumers report taking any course in financial education.
• In Spain (2019-2021), provided financial education to over 75,000 people.
• 84% of those without financial education in school wished they had received it.
• 79% of respondents track their monthly expenses.

Personalized digital investment platforms across all countries

AI-driven robo-advisors provide hyper-personalized investment solutions. The bank launched Navigator Global, an international growth platform, which will be available in over 40 markets by the end of 2026. The previous UK version supported over 2,500 companies between 2021 and 2025. In Spain, the Santander One platform includes cryptocurrency trading for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin.

You should review the expansion timeline for Navigator Global, as extension to all markets is planned by the end of 2026. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Banco Santander, S.A. reaches its 178 million customers globally as of September 2025. The channel strategy blends a massive physical footprint with aggressive digital expansion, which is key to their stated goal of becoming a national, digital bank with branches.

The physical branch network remains substantial, though actively being optimized globally. In the UK, for instance, the bank announced changes from June 2025, closing 95 of its existing 444 branches, resulting in a refreshed network of 349 branches and Work Cafés. This UK restructuring includes 290 full-service branches, 36 reduced hours branches, and 5 Work Cafés. Despite these closures, 93% of the UK population remains within 10 miles of a Santander branch. Globally, as of H1'25, Banco Santander, S.A. operated 7,683 branches. The US operation saw the closure of 18 U.S. branches between July and August 2025, affecting about 4.5% of that network.

Digital sales channels are seeing rapid adoption, supporting the transformation strategy.

• UK digital transactions have seen a 63% increase since 2019.
• In the UK, 82% of current accounts were opened digitally.
• UK mobile banking users saw a 56% increase.
• UK mobile banking app transactions increased by 89%.
• UK mobile logins reached up to 1.9 billion.
• Openbank, the digital unit in the U.S., attracted 162,000 new customers in the US by Q3 2025.
• Openbank in the US surpassed $6.75 billion in deposits by Q3 2025.
• Openbank surpassed 100,000 customers in the US within its first six months of operation (by May 2025).

The PagoNxt global payments platform serves merchants and consumers, integrating various payment schemes.

For cash access, Banco Santander, S.A. maintains a significant proprietary ATM presence, especially in Spain, alongside partnerships for broader reach. You can withdraw cash without commission at more than 7,000 ATMs across Spain. In the UK, customers can also bank using one of over 11,000 Post Office branches and 112 Banking Hubs.

The Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) segment relies on a specialized direct sales force to engage complex clients. As of October 2025, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking has approximately 3.8K employees across 5 continents. This segment's estimated annual revenue as of October 2025 is $5B.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the core groups Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) serves across its global footprint as of late 2025. The bank serves a massive base of 178 million customers across Europe and the Americas as of September 2025. The business model is structured around five global units, each targeting distinct customer needs.

Global Retail & Commercial customers form the bedrock of the business. Retail banking is cited as the major contributor to earnings, historically generating 74% of the group's profit. For the first half of 2025, the Retail & Commercial segment saw its underlying attributable profit grow by +9% year-on-year.

The push to be a digital bank with branches is heavily focused on this segment, with 67% of its products and services now digitally available. You can see the geographic concentration of this core business below, based on the latest available revenue breakdown by geography.

The Digital Consumer Bank clients are a key growth vector, especially through the Openbank platform. Openbank by Santander launched in the US in late 2024 and surpassed 100,000 customers within its first six months of operation, exceeding expectations. By February 2025, this US digital platform had already secured $2 billion in deposits. However, for the first half of 2025, the Digital Consumer Bank segment experienced a profit decline of -3% year-on-year. To be fair, the US retail bank (Santander Bank N.A.), which includes the digital offering, served over 1.8 million customers across its core Northeastern states as of May 2025.

Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) clients and large enterprises are served globally. This segment showed solid performance in the first half of 2025, with underlying attributable profit rising by +9% year-on-year. The strategy here focuses on expanding fee-based, capital-light businesses.

Wealth Management clients, which includes Private Banking and Insurance, target higher-net-worth individuals and family offices. This unit delivered strong inflows and saw its underlying attributable profit jump by +19% in the first half of 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in that period.

You can summarize the segment focus points with these key metrics:

• Total customers as of September 2025: 178 million.
• Retail & Commercial profit growth (H1 2025): +9%.
• Wealth Management profit growth (H1 2025): +19%.
• Digital Consumer Bank profit change (H1 2025): -3%.
• US Digital Bank (Openbank) customer count (May 2025): Over 100,000 in six months.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the cost side of Banco Santander, S.A.'s operations as of late 2025. Honestly, managing costs in a global bank this size is all about scale and transformation, so the numbers reflect a constant push for efficiency.

Personnel expenses are a major component. For the fiscal year 2024, the total staff costs were reported at EUR 3,210 million, which covered an average headcount that included 21,642 Other employees and 2,182 staff in Branches abroad, among others, for a total of 24,061 in the average headcount breakdown provided for that year. By the third quarter of 2025, the reported employee count stood at 189.84K. The specific headcount of 201,304 you mentioned isn't directly in the latest reports, but the trend shows a continued reduction from the 2024 year-end figure of 206,753 employees.

For operating expenses, the focus is clearly on the efficiency ratio. Banco Santander, S.A. has a stated target to reach an efficiency ratio of around 42% by 2025. The progress toward this goal is evident in the recent figures; the efficiency ratio improved to 41.8% in the first quarter of 2025, and the cost-to-income ratio reached 41.5% in the second quarter of 2025. To give you a sense of the scale, the Selling and Administration Expenses for the period ending September 2025 were EUR 927 million.

The technology and cloud migration costs are substantial, though they are framed as investments driving future savings. The bank reported saving EUR 77 million (or $83.6 million) in efficiencies in the second quarter of 2025 alone due to technology deployment. Since 2022, the total savings generated from this transformation have reached $341 million. This is part of a massive, multi-year effort; the Group set aside $20.8 billion (€20 billion) for digital transformation back in 2020. The Gravity platform, central to this, is expected to process over one trillion technical operations annually across the group's systems once fully rolled out.

Costs associated with maintaining the large global branch network are being managed through optimization and closure. As of the end of 2024, the number of branches was 8,011, down from 8,134 the prior year. This network reduction is a direct lever to lower the operating expense base, even without a specific branch maintenance cost figure readily available for 2025.

Finally, funding costs are tracked through interest expenses. For the period ending September 2025, the reported Interest Expense on Debt was EUR 15.99 billion. This cost is managed by actively capturing deposits, which are a lower-cost and more stable source of funding. Customer funds, which include customer deposits, stood at EUR 1,211 billion (excluding repos) at the end of 2024.

Here's a quick look at some key operational and cost-related metrics as of late 2025 data:

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at the core ways Banco Santander, S.A. is bringing in money as of late 2025. It's a mix of traditional banking income and growth from specialized digital units. Honestly, the numbers show a clear focus on efficiency and high-return areas.

Net Interest Income (NII) from core lending activities remains foundational. For the first half of 2025 (H1'25), NII showed growth of 1.3% year-on-year in constant euros, contributing to a Total Income increase of 4.6% in the same period. Looking at the first quarter of 2025 (Q1'25), NII was stable year-on-year, though it recorded a 4% rise when excluding the impact of Argentina. Analysts in mid-2025 projected continued NII growth of 2%-3% for Q2 2025 in constant currency terms.

Net Fee and Commission Income from services and transactions has been a standout performer. In Q1 2025, net fee income hit a record of €3.37 billion, marking a 9% increase in constant euros year-on-year. For H1 2025 overall, net fee income grew 3.2% (or 9% in constant euros). This strong fee performance helped offset a dip in NII in some periods.

Retail Banking, which you noted generates 74% of total profits, is showing solid profit growth from its core operations. For the first nine months of 2025 (9M'25), Retail & Commercial Banking's attributable profit grew 9% to €5,670 million. This segment's profitability is supported by higher net fee income and tight cost control.

Wealth Management and Insurance continues to be a high-growth area. The segment saw 14% growth in wealth management revenue in Q2 2025. For H1'25, the Wealth & Insurance segment saw its profit increase by 19%. To give you a concrete example from earlier in the year, in Q1 2025, Insurance gross written premiums reached €2.7 billion (a 4% year-on-year rise in constant euros), and its attributable profit was 25% higher year-on-year.

Payments revenue from PagoNxt and Global Cards diversifies the revenue base away from pure lending. For the Cards business in 2024, turnover reached €330 billion (a 9% increase), with revenue growing 7%. PagoNxt, the merchant-facing division, is targeted to achieve a revenue growth of around 30% in 2025. In Q1 2025, the overall Payments segment profit increased 30% to €126 million.

Here's a quick look at some of these key revenue drivers based on the latest available figures:

You can see the focus on growing the non-lending income streams. For instance, PagoNxt continues to target significant revenue growth, aiming for an H1 2025 revenue around €758 million. The bank is definitely pushing its customer-related activities hard.

• Total income for H1 2025 was €4.6% higher year-on-year in constant euros.
• In Q1 2025, the bank added nine million new customers.
• The efficiency ratio improved to 41.8% in Q1 2025, down from 45.8% in the 2023 target period.