At Santander, we drive transformation through data and artificial intelligence. Our Data & AI teams work to build solutions that optimize decision-making, enhance customer experience, and make banking safer, more efficient, and more human.
AI is our vision and way of bringing it to life
“Artificial intelligence is more than technology; it’s a new way of understanding our customers and envisioning the future. At Santander, we believe in the power of talent to transform data into real impact. Come join us and be part of the change.”
— Ricardo Martín Manjón, Chief Data & AI Officer, Grupo Santander.
Our Responsible AI principles
Our Data and Artificial Intelligence Corporate Framework, approved by the Board of Directors, sets the principles every Data & AI use case is built and operated under. Supervised through a three-lines-of-defence model, with independet oversight proportionate to risk.
01. Transparency. AI systems are designed and operated so users always know when they are interacting with AI - reinforcing informed understanding, autonomy and trust in their use.
03. Accountability. AI systems must comply with industry standards and regulation across their full lifecycle — design, implementation, and monitoring. Clearly defined owners ensure proper functioning and compliance.
05. Contribution to value & well-being. AI must create clear value for customers, employees, and the organisation, while avoiding uses with disproportionate social or political impact.
02. Fairness & bias mitigation . AI must avoid unfairly discriminatory outcomes. Bias mitigation is applied proportionally to risk, considering each system’s purpose and applicable regulation.
04. Privacy, data protection & security. AI use complies with data protection laws, applying data minimisation, anonymisation, and privacy-by-design. Impact assessments and cybersecurity measures safeguard individual rights.
What we are doing with AI
Our Global Data & Artificial Intelligence function is structured around four operational pillars — each one tied to outcomes for the people we serve.
Transforming the customer experience
We integrate AI and advanced automation into the moments that matter — from how a question is answered to how a product is offered, with conversational interfaces that meet people where they are.
Better decisions, with reliable data.
Common standards for the quality, traceability and governance of information from origin through the full lifecycle so AI is used where it improves outcomes for the customer, not only for the bank.
Scaling impact, responsibly.
Analytical models and scalable solutions deployed under a single global standard, in people-led teams that combine data, analytics, technology, risk and compliance from day one.
Invest in our people.
Mandatory responsible-AI training for every employee working with these systems, and a structured upskilling programme so the cultural shift this transformation requires reaches across the Group.
Our impact
- Our work & impact
- Technology and research
- Responsible AI
When speed meets quality: How we make AI products measurable at Santander
Santander is making AI products measurable across the full lifecycle, combining Responsible AI, quality, safety, fairness and continuous evaluation.
Europe’s approach to new AI: Vertical specialization, data sovereignty and regulatory trust
Strategic monitoring report: ‘The New European Frontier of B2B AI’.
Santander turns its AI-first strategy into measurable impact and extends AI access to all 185,000 employees
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
Getnet develops infrastructure that enables businesses to accept AI agent-initiated payments
Getnet, Santander’s global merchant payments platform, continues to advance its agentic commerce strategy with the launch of new artificial intelligence-powered capabilities that enable merchants to securely and efficiently accept payments initiated by AI agents.
Santander seeks companies with the best solutions in quantum computing and artificial intelligence
Banco Santander has launched Santander X Global Challenge | The Quantum AI Leap, a new global challenge developed in collaboration with IBM, Bluzec and Oxentia Foundation.
Banco Santander and G42 sign Memorandum of Understanding to explore strategic cooperation in Artificial Intelligence
G42, the Abu Dhabi-based technology group and Banco Santander, S.A. (“Santander”), the Madrid-based global banking group, have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a framework for strategic cooperation in artificial intelligence.
AI at Santander: From learning to practical use
Santander is promoting the use of AI through training, internal communities, and a common model to ramp up projects across the Group.
The macroeconomic effects of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform economies, but history suggests its effects will be neither immediate nor uniform.
Santander’s data & AI-first strategy accelerates | Ricardo Martín Manjón
In today’s fast-moving financial landscape, competitive edge comes not just from adopting artificial intelligence, but from embedding it into the DNA of how we work.
Foundation models come to tables and time series
Most of the conversations about foundation models are related to language and images. Less discussed, but more consequential for a bank, is that the same idea is applied to one of the most widely used forms of data: rows in a table.
Engineering the loop: how Santander makes AI agents reliable
As Santander expands the use of AI across customer service, software development, operations and internal productivity, there is an increasing need for building systems that do more than answer questions.
Santander publishes AI projects under an Open Source licence to ramp up shared innovation
The bank has shared over a dozen of its AI projects under an Open Source licence, enabling developers, researchers and professionals the world over to use this technology free of charge to grow.
Santander and the CSIC join forces to spearhead research into advanced and responsible AI for the future of banking
Banco Santander and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain’s Council for Scientific Research, or “CSIC”) have signed a partnership agreement to explore future research, innovation and knowledge transfer initiatives in such strategic areas as advanced artificial intelligence and its link to quantum computing, hybrid quantum-AI applications, and other computational capacities.
Designing conversational AI that knows when to say no
Santander explores how to design trustworthy conversational AI that can refuse requests clearly, proportionately and helpfully.
Open Source
Some of our work is open to the world. Explore the tools, datasets and models we have made available to the research and developer community.
