Our business model

We help people and businesses prosper through our environmental, social and governance practices.

Santander’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper. We want to be the best open financial services platform by acting responsibly and earning the trust of our employees, customers, shareholders and communities. We must be Simple, Personal and Fair in all we do.

Our loyalty strategy enables us to create value for our stakeholders. Our talented and engaged team helps boost customer loyalty, enabling us to generate solid shareholder returns and to support society. 

Our business model rests on three solid foundations:

• Local scale and global scope. Our local scale is based on three geographic regions, where we maintain a position of leadership in our ten core markets. Our global businesses allow for greater collaboration within the Group to generate higher income and efficiencies.
• Customer-centric approach. The unique personal relationships we build strengthen customer loyalty. Santander has 148 million customers in markets of over one billion people. Our more than 100,000 employees deal directly with our customers every day in our vast network of branches and customer service centres. 44% of all our sales are online, and the use of digital channels is growing (6.1 million more mobile customers in 2020).
• Diversification. Our geographic and business diversification make us more resilient under adverse circumstances.

We have balanced geographic diversification between mature and emerging markets.

Geographic diversification: North America, South America and Europe

Our operations also are properly diversified in customer segments (individuals, SMEs and large corporates). And our global businesses strengthen our local franchises.

Our strengths enabled us to deliver strong underlying results in an extremely challenging year. 

Growth

Our commercial activity ended the year close to pre-pandemic levels.

Profitability

We increased our efficiency ratio and net operating income.

Strength

Throughout the crisis, our balance sheet has remained rock-solid. Our non-performing loan ratio declined and we continued to generate capital.