Banco Santander

Universal bank · Madrid, Spain

Banco Santander is a Spanish retail and commercial bank with 182 million customers across nine core markets in Europe and the Americas, including Spain, the UK, the US, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Portugal and Germany. It sold 49% of Santander Bank Polska to Erste in January 2026 and bought TSB in the UK in April 2026. Santander CIB ranked first in global export finance in 2025 on Dealogic data with a 14.5% share. The group is an FSB bucket 1 G-SIB with a 14.0% CET1 ratio at June 2026.

Legal name: Banco Santander, S.A.
Regulated by: ECB (SSM), Banco de Espana, CNMV (Spain), PRA/FCA (UK, Santander UK), Federal Reserve/OCC (US, Santander Bank N.A.), Banco Central do Brasil, CNBV (Mexico)
Licence confirmed: yes, on a regulator's own list
Established: 1857
Website: www.santander.com

Scores, 0 to 10

9.0Trade, manufacturing & import-export

First globally in export finance in 2025 per Dealogic with USD 18.2 billion volume and 14.5% share, first in Europe and Latin America. · source

9.0Financial strength & stability

FSB bucket 1 G-SIB (November 2025), CET1 14.0% at June 2026, ratings A1/A+/A+ all stable. · source

8.5United Kingdom

Santander UK plc is a PRA-authorised clearing bank that completed the GBP 2.65 billion TSB acquisition on 30 April 2026, but business accounts require all directors to be UK residents. · source

8.5Latin America, Africa & South Asia

Full retail and corporate banks in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Peru; Brazil was the largest revenue market (21.6%) and Mexico 10.2% in 2023 per Wikipedia. · source

8.0Europe (EU, EEA, Switzerland)

Full banks in Spain, Portugal and Germany (Santander Consumer), 100% of Santander Consumer Bank Poland retained after selling 49% of Santander Bank Polska to Erste on 9 January 2026; euro rails native. · source

7.0United States

Santander Bank N.A. holds USD 102 billion in assets across eight Northeast states, Openbank US passed USD 6 billion deposits in October 2025, and the USD 12.2 billion Webster Bank deal announced 3 February 2026 was expected to close in H2 2026. · source

7.0Cross-border payments, FX and multi-currency accounts

Santander CIB runs FX and payments across nine core markets with local rails (PIX, SPEI, FPS, ACH, SEPA), but published FX margins for SMEs were not found. Santander CIB Global Transaction Banking covers cash management, trade and FX across Europe and the Americas and ranked first in export finance in 2025, but the network is concentrated in nine markets rather than 30+ countries. · source

6.5Business cards (Visa, Mastercard)

The Santander UK Business Cashback Credit Card pays 1 percent cashback on all spend with a GBP 30 annual account fee, additional cards at no extra cost and no foreign transaction fee on purchases paid in local currency. · source

5.0Lowest fees

UK business current account GBP 9.99 per month with no paid or unpaid item fees and GBP 1,000 free monthly cash deposits; Spanish Personas Juridicas account costs EUR 360 per year per Wise (June 2026). · source

5.0Fast digital onboarding

Santander UK: only sole traders can apply in-app, limited companies must phone Business Banking Direct, and the account is active on average five days after application (anna.money, July 2026). · source

5.0Online businesses: e-commerce and SaaS

UK business account includes a 1% cashback business credit card and PagoNxt runs the group's payments platform, but no multi-currency collection accounts or marketplace payout product was found. Santander UK's Business Current Account includes 6 months of free Xero and 12 months free banking for start-ups, but no USD receiving account or API product for software firms is offered. · source

4.5Startups & VC-backed companies

UK start-ups get 12 months free on the business current account and access to Work Cafe spaces and Santander X courses, but there is no venture debt or dedicated startup banking unit. · source

4.0Best interest on business balances

Openbank US pays a savings rate about ten times the 0.40% FDIC national average (October 2025) but this is a consumer product; the Spanish Personas Juridicas business account is non-interest-bearing per Wise. · source

4.0Fintech companies that need a partner bank

No public safeguarding or BaaS programme for EMIs was found; PagoNxt payments infrastructure was mentioned only as a potential Poland collaboration with Erste in January 2026. · source

4.0High-risk verticals (iGaming, cannabis, adult, forex)

Santander UK states it cannot currently serve payment institutions, e-money institutions, PISPs and AISPs, and publishes no list covering gambling, adult or cannabis clients. · source

4.0Crypto wallet and custody for a business

Santander's digital bank subsidiary Openbank has held a MiCA CASP authorisation in Spain since July 2025 and lets personal customers in Germany and Spain buy and hold crypto with no custody fee, but it is a retail investment service and no business crypto account exists in the group. · source

4.0Off-ramp: crypto to fiat in a business account

Evidence is thin: no group source-of-funds process for crypto proceeds in business accounts is published, and Santander UK's caps on exchange payments show a cautious stance toward crypto money. · source

4.0Bitcoin

Openbank customers can buy, sell and hold bitcoin for a 1.49 percent fee, but only as personal customers and without transfers to outside wallets; there is no bitcoin service for companies. · source

4.0Ethereum

Ether is on Openbank's retail list alongside bitcoin, Solana and others, with no business access, staking or outside transfers, checked September 2026. · source

3.5Foreign-owned & non-resident companies

Santander UK business accounts are for UK registered businesses with up to 2 directors or owners, and the credit card requires all partners, directors or shareholders to be UK residents. · source

3.5On-ramp: buy crypto with fiat

Santander UK caps payments to crypto exchanges at GBP 1,000 per transaction and GBP 3,000 per rolling 30 days across online, phone, CHAPS and branch payments; in Spain and Germany crypto buying sits in the retail Openbank app, not in business accounts. · source

3.0Crypto-friendly bank

Santander UK caps payments to crypto exchanges at GBP 1,000 per transaction and GBP 3,000 per 30 days and its sole-trader business applicants must confirm no crypto involvement; retail crypto trading is offered only via Openbank. · source

3.0Customer satisfaction

Trustpilot 1.4 out of 5 from 1,492 reviews for bancosantander.es (home market) and 3.4 from 11,341 reviews for santander.co.uk. · source

2.0Stablecoins (USDC, USDT and others)

On 1 September 2026 Santander joined 20 other banks committing to set up a company that will issue a USD stablecoin, aiming to reach the market in the first half of 2027; there is no stablecoin service for business clients today. · source

1.0Accept crypto payments

Getnet, Santander's merchant platform, added AI-agent payments with Mastercard in June 2026 but offers no crypto or stablecoin acceptance, checked September 2026. · source

Sources

Built on public information and the BankStore team's own aggregated experience; no confidential client or partner data. Bank Index and BankStore are not banks. This is information, not financial advice.