Santander has won Euromoney’s ‘Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion’ global award for the first time, and the ‘Best Bank for SMEs’ global award for third time in five years. 

When making the awards, Euromoney highlighted Santander’s ambitious targets on diversity and inclusion and the difficulty of rolling out them across a global network and outlined the advantages of its global SME franchise during the Covid-19 outbreak

Madrid, 10 September 2020 - PRESS RELEASE 
Euromoney has recognised Santander as the World’s Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion, and the World’s Best Bank for SMEs in its 2020 “Excellence in Leadership” awards. It is the third time in five years that Santander has won the SME award and the first time it has been named Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion. 

Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion

Santander has implemented a number of initiatives to support diversity and inclusion, including establishing a global minimum standard for parental leave across all our markets or microfinance programmes to help low-income and underbanked population set up small businesses. The bank has set a number of targets to increase diversity and inclusion within the business, including reaching between 40 to 60 per cent of women in the board next year.

Banco Santander has also achieved the highest ranking in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index for the past 2 years. 

In awarding Santander the Best Bank of Diversity and Inclusion, Euromoney highlighted the breadth and ambition of Santander’s diversity and inclusion programmes and its capacity to rolling them out across divergent histories, cultures and levels of economic development.

Commenting on the diversity and inclusion award, Santander group executive chairman Ana Botin said: “We are committed to building a more responsible bank and have set a number of ambitious targets to help us achieve that goal. We have much still to do but are making real progress and are extremely grateful that Euromoney has recognised our efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive organisation.” 

Best Bank for SMEs

The impact of Covid-19 has had a significant influence on the 2020 edition of Euromoney awards. Since the start of the crisis, Santander has helped more than six million customers through different initiatives such as payment deferrals in mortgages and loans for individuals and companies all around the world, accounting for 16% of our total portfolio.  In all our markets the Group is providing significant financial support to SMEs and corporates affected by the covid-19 pandemic, extending an average of more than €1.6 billion every day in new lending to our customers, most of it SME’s, in April, May and June.

The bank has also implemented a number of initiatives this year to improve its products and services to SMEs, including new digital platforms to help companies strengthen their digital capabilities as they expand internationally (Ebury, Mercury TFS, We.Trade…) or a fully digital invoice financing service for SMEs in Spain (Financia&Go).

In awarding Santander the best bank for SMEs, Euromoney highlighted “Covid-19 has given the Spanish bank an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of a global SME franchise, even for clients without international operations”. 

Ana Botin said: “It has been an extremely challenging year and our teams have worked tirelessly to support our customers through the pandemic. To be recognised as the best bank globally for SMEs is a real testament to their efforts.”

In July, Euromoney praised Santander response to the covid-19 crisis in Europe (Western, and Central & Eastern Europe) with an “Excellence in Leadership” award in its regional edition. Furthermore, the magazine acknowledged Santander as Best Bank for SMEs in Western Europe and Latin America, Best Bank in Spain and Portugal, and Best Investment Bank in Portugal. 

Euromoney magazine has been a leading publication in international finance for 50 years. Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence were established in 1992 and are the global benchmark for the banking industry.