Over the review period, Santander executed a strong pan-European digital strategy that delivered advantages for small and medium-sized enterprises. Guided by a common operating model and its proprietary Gravity/ODS technology, the bank grew its SME customer base by more than 8 million in 2024 alone, while lifting digital sales to double-digit growth across nearly 8,000 advisory branches.
PagoNxt, Santander’s paytech built “for business, by business”, now serves merchants in over 20 countries, giving SMEs a single gateway for domestic, cross-border and value-added services. The platform’s data-driven insights and behavioural-economics design cut onboarding times and underpin the fully digital SME account launched in Spain in 2024.
Meanwhile, Santander Bank Polska’s API-based integration with the government-backed mObywatel ID app shows the group’s open-banking strength: 62 % of new customers verify themselves digitally in just four minutes, with a 99.9 % completion rate and a net promoter score of 80.
Inside the business app, SMEs now enjoy an ERP-style factoring dashboard that offers a real-time view of limits, upcoming cash flows and insured invoices, plus annual performance benchmarks to prompt working-capital decisions. A parallel confirming and agile payment hub lets treasurers reschedule invoice dates and monitor contingent liabilities with a single swipe. Santander’s breakthrough “Multiproduct” framework reduces 14 financing contracts to one notary visit and enables self-serve top-ups – credits, import financing, tax-payment loans – directly from the web or app.
Beyond banking, the new “Contract” zone aggregates access to POS terminals, FX hedging and Santander X, the bank’s entrepreneurship marketplace that connects SMEs to mentors, grants and innovation challenges.
Its digital onboarding journey automatically offers SMEs sustainability-linked ICO loans and populates the mandatory ESG self-assessment
Tech alliances with Allianz Trade, SAP, Komgo and fintech Two embed Santander solutions inside client ERPs, while GetNet’s Tap-on-Phone rollout in Spain and Portugal turns any smartphone into a PCI-compliant terminal for face-to-face or remote collections. The result: 9.8 billion GetNet transactions in 2024 – up 5% year-on-year – and over €200 billion processed, a double-digit increase.
Furthermore, this review period saw Santander pair finance with knowledge: its digital onboarding journey automatically offers SMEs sustainability-linked ICO loans and populates the mandatory ESG self-assessment, while tutorial videos and contextual help modules appear throughout the Business site, ensuring owners understand every step before they sign.
Looking at security, the bank’s free Cyberguardian platform delivers threat-intelligence feeds, staff training and incident triage specifically for SMEs, complemented by biometric Santander Key signatures at ATMs and in-app payment confirmation.
Finally, 2024 saw SMEs benefit from real-time FX quotes, immediate financing of import transactions under Multiproduct, and automated collections via the Agile Payment rail.
For micro-merchants, Tap-on-Phone and GetNet e-wallet integrations provide omnichannel acceptance at minimal cost.
By combining technology with country-specific ingenuity, Santander has further developed its SME franchise. Its achievements over the review period back up its strategy of “digital first, relationship always”.
