Santander UK’s parent Banco Santander is accelerating AI rollout to cut costs by more than €500 million and unlock over €1 billion in revenue and cost-saving potential globally between 2026 and 2028, with AI expected to drive significant value across the group.

The shift is from ambition to execution, with measurable impact already visible in processes, risk management, customer service, and operations through AI-enabled improvements.

AI access is being provided to all 185,000 staff worldwide (including about 15,000 in the UK), and nearly 40,000 employees are actively using AI already.

In Brazil, AI automates fraud-related card complaints, speeding resolution by roughly 95% and achieving automation levels around 90% with sub-1% error rates.

In the UK, the bank is rolling out AI in voice channels to handle card-related inquiries.

Spanish operations with Santander and Openbank are using AI to make interactions more natural and to intensify data capture in each customer contact.

Openbank and Santander automate risk alerts (about 100,000 AML alerts annually) and operate more than 280 production automation agents.

UK voice-channel rollout targets self-service resolution of around 240,000 calls per year (≈40% of annual volume), saving about 26,000 customer hours and freeing roughly 45,000 hours for more complex tasks.

The broader strategy emphasizes automation, productivity gains, and process simplification to underpin AI-driven enhancements in customer service, including the UK voice channel, with similar self-service goals for a substantial share of calls.

Early financial gains are already evident, with €30.3 million reported in the first quarter of the current year.

Santander’s three priorities are making the bank faster, safer, and more efficient through process automation, using AI to unlock new growth and to help employees integrate AI into daily work.

There is no workforce-wide layoff program announced in connection with the AI rollout, and specific job-cut numbers have not been disclosed.