the new brand of the Cantabrian bank to finance purchases

Santander Bank announced this Wednesday the merger of Openbank and Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) into a single legal entity, with the aim of all its European consumer finance businesses progressively operating under the Openbank brand.

Germany will be the first market to integratewhich will be followed soon by other countries, as explained by Banco Santander in a statement.

The entity has highlighted that the integration of Openbank and SCF, which are part of the global Digital Consumer Bank (DCB) business, represents “a natural step in the business simplification strategy“, as this reinforces the group’s ability “to offer the best service and the most competitive financing solutions to its commercial partners, such as car manufacturers, dealers or businesses, and end customers.”

Openbank is Santander’s reference digital brand. In recent years, Openbank has achieved one of the highest recommendation rates (NPS) in its main market. The Openbank brand will incorporate the ‘by Santander’ distinctive.

At the moment, Openbank operates in four European countries (Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands) and has recently begun its international expansion in the United States and Mexico.

For its part, Santander Consumer Finance is the European leader in automobile financing by credit volume (more than 140 billion euros), with operations in 18 countries. Together, both entities They provide financing to around 16,000 new clients every day in Europe.

Agreements with Apple, Amazon or Vodafone

In recent years, the joint management of Openbank and SCF has boosted the new business development through agreements with companies such as Apple, Amazon or Vodafone, in different European countries.

“This integration will allow clients of both entities to access a broader product offering through a single, simplified digital platformwith a single access point for its banking, financing and payment solutions,” the entity highlighted.

Among other solutions, Openbank offers in different markets an automated investment service Robo Advisor, a broker platform with tools based on artificial intelligence which provide target prices for European and US securities, and has recently incorporated the trading of cryptocurrencies.

Santander will begin the process by merging the legal entities Openbank and Santander Consumer Finance, based in Spain, subject to applicable regulatory approvals. At the same time, the group will consolidate the businesses of Openbank and Santander Consumer Bank in Germany. Subsequently, the group will gradually roll out the new brand in the rest of the European markets.