Santander has rolled out Openbank, a digital platform intended to augment the lender’s U.S. growth and generate deposits to fund its auto franchise, the bank announced Monday.
The platform will offer high-yield savings, but Santander plans to introduce more products next year, including a checking account, debit cards and certificates of deposit, Santander’s U.S. CEO, Tim Wennes, told American Banker. Lending products could follow in roughly 18 months, Wennes added.
“The launch of Openbank in the U.S. marks a significant milestone in our group’s transformation,” Ana Botín, Santander’s executive chair, said in a news release. “The U.S. is a key market for us, where we have been expanding our business over the past years.”
Openbank can help fund some $30 billion in loans for car purchases and expand the lender’s retail business in the U.S., Wennes told Reuters.
“We have north of $30 billion of auto assets that are not funded by the bank today, that are wholesale-funded,” Wennes told the wire service.
Santander's Openbank savings account is offering an initial 5.25% annual percentage yield — outpacing digital rivals such as Goldman Sachs' Marcus (4.1%) and CIT Bank's platinum savings account (4.7%).
“Our goal is to offer U.S. customers the best high-yield savings account through a digital-first service, which is fast, simple with a competitive rate, and a superior customer experience accessible anytime, anywhere,” Petri Nikkilä, global CEO of Openbank, said in a statement.
Monday’s launch brings Europe’s largest digital bank — with €18.5 billion in deposits — to the U.S. It currently operates in four European countries: Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Applicants for an Openbank high-yield savings account in the U.S. must not have existing deposit accounts with Santander, nor can they be current lending customers of the bank.
Santander has no plans to close any of its existing U.S. branches because of Openbank, Wennes told American Banker.
“In general, this is an augmentation,” he told the publication.
Santander has long floated the idea of launching a digital bank.
“Now it’s time to accelerate towards building a digital bank with branches,” Botín said in a February 2023 Instagram post that coincided with the lender’s investor day.
Botín said this week that Santander will have a full-service digital bank in the U.S. by the end of next year, according to Reuters.
The Spanish bank revamped its structure in September 2023, consolidating its retail and commercial business into a new global unit and announcing plans to create a global digital consumer banking division.
In a push to advance its digital bank plan, Santander in March hired Swati Bhatia, Goldman Sachs’ former head of Marcus, to serve as its head of retail banking and transformation.
Wennes said in March that the lender’s journey toward becoming a digital bank with branches had “reached an inflection point.”
Santander’s aim to establish itself in the U.S. market contrasts with some international banks, such as BBVA, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ and BNP Paribas, which have sold their U.S. retail footprint to focus on more profitable markets.
