The Spanish banking giant and lender, Santander, will launch new online bank in the UK
Santander, the Spanish banking giant and lender, will launch new online bank in the UK. This digital bank will be a standalone operation. It is reported that the bank, like RBS, will launch a business banking service under a different brand name in the coming months. The Spanish lender is also planning to introduce its digital lending service, Openbank, which has around 1.3 million customers in Spain, to the U.K.
Santander is reportedly focusing on small companies and will provide a range of services that go beyond traditional lending, such as helping businesses with payrolls and pensions. According to the report, both Santander and RBS are embracing similar strategies to attract younger clients and to fight back against the rapid rise of online competitors, including Monzo and Tandem.
A spokesperson for Santander said that it is working on a project to build an open digital financial services platform for SMEs. That, it looks forward to sharing more about the platform soon.
Last month, Santander announced the launch of a new international payments service based on Ripple’s blockchain technology. In a press release at the time, the bank said the service is now available to retail customers residing in Spain, the U.K., Brazil and Poland and will come to more countries in the next few months.
Dubbed Santander One Pay FX, the company said that thanks to Ripple’s xCurrent blockchain technology, customers will be able to complete international transfers on the same day — and in some cases by the following day. The service will also let consumers know the exact amount that will be received in the currency it is changing to before the transfer occurs.