Payments Hub, our global payments driver 

As digital payments grow at a rate of knots, so does the need to bring together networks and regulation globally. Payments Hub turns complexity into efficiency: common, scalable SaaS infrastructure in the cloud that drives Grupo Santander’s payments and can be rolled out as a service to the open market.

Paying for dinner or buying tickets online are just two examples of straightforward, fast transactions. But behind that straightforwardness and immediacy lie complex inner workings: connected networks, coordinated regulation and technology working together to make sure your money arrives when and where it should.

This invisible operation has a name: Payments Hub, Grupo Santander's global payments driver. This SaaS, cloud-based infrastructure — designed by PagoNxt — runs millions of transactions every day. It’s reliable, speedy and scalable. As a common, API-based platform that can operate 24/7, it connects over a dozen account-to-account payment schemes and can lend its technology to the open market, with full compliance and the resilience that global operations demand. 
 

Payments Hub’s focus in on continuous improvement — evolving without service interruption and prioritizing reliability and scale. It’s a unique piece of infrastructure that processes domestic and international payments and replaces legacy tech and apps, with less friction and back-office work to make things faster.

And we’re already seeing the fruits of our labour: rollout between Spain and the UK enables immediate transfers in pounds from Santander España to Santander UK, with end users completely shielded from the complexity of such international payments. End-to-end compliance procedures, real-time processing and tools that ensure a consistent experience (even when regulatory requirements change) underpin this simplicity.

And the results are undeniable: a customer has automated 96% of payments or receipts that they couldn’t complete automatically before, and the system runs at 99.99% availability. Payments Hub processes over 14 million payments every day, which could rise to 40 million once Brazil and Mexico climb on board.

The aim is to create a tool that serves as a common foundation for the Group but enables us to make changes, standardize procedures and retain the ability to respond locally and meet market needs.

Payments Hub has won several awards.

Leading magazine The Banker gave it the top prize in the “Payments” category at its Innovation in Digital Banking Awards 2024. And in 2025, it was a finalist at the Pay360 Awards in the “Best Initiative in Banking” category.