Spain's Santander is merging its digital lender Openbank with its consumer finance business in Europe as part of a drive to simplify its structure and reduce costs, the bank said today.
The new entity will manage Santander's consumer finance operations under the Openbank brand, starting with Germany, with other markets to follow, Santander said.
Openbank and Santander Consumer Finance belong to the group's global digital consumer bank business. In Europe, this business has €84 billion in customer deposits.
SCF is an auto finance leader in Europe with over €140 billion in loans.
In 2023, Santander reorganised its business into retail, consumer, payments, wealth, and corporate and investment banking units to try to improve efficiency and boost its value.
The euro zone's biggest lender by market value did not disclose potential cost savings from the merger.
Nitin Prabhu, global head of Santander's Digital Consumer Bank global business, said the combination would create a "more efficient and innovative digital-first bank".
Santander, which focuses on 10 core markets, is building its own technology platform for consumer and digital-only banking.
Openbank currently operates in Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands and has expanded to the US and Mexico.
In recent years, Openbank and SCF have forged partnerships with the likes of Apple, Amazon and Vodafone in various European countries.
Santander said the integration would allow clients to access a wider range of products through a unified digital platform.
