Santander has cut about 320 of its U.S. roles in recent days, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg and Reuters.
Many of the layoffs are centered on the bank’s retail operations as Santander looks to give itself more of a digital focus, in line with a strategy Chair Ana Botin emphasized around this time last year at the bank’s investor day.
“Now it’s time to accelerate towards building a digital bank with branches,” Botin wrote in an Instagram post in February 2023.
Santander aims to launch a fully digital platform in the U.S. this summer in its consumer and commercial units, according to Reuters.
“We are evolving our US business, investing in digital capabilities and simplified processes to adapt to changing customer needs,” Santander said in a statement seen Sunday by Bloomberg and Reuters. “These steps have resulted in an update to our staffing model that impacts a small percentage of our branch colleagues. We will continue to support them throughout this process and are working to provide internal opportunities, where possible.”
The layoffs account for between 2.4% and 2.7% of Santander’s U.S.-based workforce, according to varying figures reported by the wire services.
The move comes at a time when Santander seeks to double its investment banking business in the U.S. To that end, the bank has aimed to hire 150 employees to build out its investment banking operations in the U.S., Reuters reported in July. Santander hired more than 100 bankers in 2023 through October, according to the Financial Times, with most of those roles in the U.S. and more than half filled by Credit Suisse alums.
On a more macro level, the bank announced a reorganization in September that consolidates the bank’s retail and commercial business into one global unit and creates a global digital consumer banking division.
The shift in priorities in the U.S. is aimed at helping Santander stem a 48% drop in profits last year among the bank’s businesses in the market, amid a 49% rise in provisions. Apart from its retail presence, Santander historically had been a strong player in auto lending.
