IBM Strikes $700M Deal with Santander

IBM and Banco Santander announced a five-year global technology agreement valued at approximately $700m to enable Santander Group to accelerate and deepen its business transformation.

The agreement – while providing annual savings for the bank on IT spend – will enable Santander Group to evolve towards the “open, flexible and modern IT environment” it requires to materialize the pivotal role that technology and digital capabilities play in its business strategy. The agreement will also boost Santander’s capability to deliver innovative services to its customers.

Santander will be able to enrich its services and applications with “IBM’s most innovative and disruptive technologies,” such as AI, blockchain and big data, all supported by security advanced solutions. Using IBM Watson, for instance, Santander is incorporating AI capabilities to improve customer experience, enhance branch advisors expertise and increase employee productivity.

“This agreement will allow us to have a global partner with the best technology to help accelerate the IT transformation. We think this agreement with IBM represents a great support to our strategy of constant progress, while protecting our investments in technology. IBM’s technology will provide the bank with the flexibility needed to support the constantly evolving business of a bank.” – Global CIO at Santander, David Chaos.

“Santander Group is leveraging IBM technologies to support their security and regulatory work, and to rapidly develop new services that meet emerging customer demand by tapping into IBM’s unique technology and industry expertise.” – IBM General Manager for Santander Group, David Soto.