Our mission is be the best retail and commercial bank that earns the lasting loyalty of our employees, customers, shareholders and communities. Progress has been made in the following areas during the third quarter of the year.
- The global engagement survey was launched for the fifth time in order to know the level of employees’ engagement, as well as identify areas of improvement and opportunities so as to make Santander a better place to work.
- Under MyContribution, the 360 assessment process, in which executives are evaluated by their peers, line managers and their manager, was put into effect.
- Progress was made in installing the Workday platform (One Team Programme), which will provide us with a talent pool at the global level. Harmonisation of the processes in the countries involved in the first phase was completed.
- Once the pilot phase of the Strategic Workforce Planning in the UK, Mexico and the corporate centre was concluded, action plans were launched in the rest of countries. This project aims to identify the talent needed by the Group, quantifying the skills required for the future.
- Young Leaders, the programme to train professionals with leadership potential, was started in order to speed up Santander’s transformation.
- Various strategies continued to be developed under the commercial transformation programme in order to improve customer loyalty and the customer experience. The number of loyal customers rose by 3.1 million and digital ones by 5.7 million year-on-year.
- Of note among the commercial actions implemented in the third quarter were the opening of the first Work Café in Spain, as an alternative to conventional branches. In Mexico, a new branch model (Sucursal Ágil) was launched in order to cut waiting time and provide a quicker service, Súper Auto (auto and motorcycle finance) and Solicitud Contrato Agro to encourage agro-credits in the SME segment.
- As regards digitalisation, the strategy was strengthened with Openbank, which launched an automated financial advisor (robo-advisor) and offered new developments and functionalities. The new services include, among others, private and safe storage of all types of passwords and an account aggregator to connect accounts and products from other banks. In the UK, we launched the Digital Investment Advisor, a new investment advisory service, and in Poland the Działalnosc.pl platform for entrepreneurs.
- In mobile banking, Poland launched mSignature, an app that authorises operations and replaces SMS codes.
- The first interim dividend charged to 2018’s earnings was paid in August. In November, on the date on which the second dividend is traditionally paid, the Santander Dividendo Elección programme will be applied, enabling shareholders to choose whether to receive their remuneration in cash and/or in shares.
- Shareholder Relations and Universia Foundation concluded the 10th edition of scholarships for students with a disability. These funds contribute to the academic progress of shareholders with disabilities who are university students and foster their socio-labour inclusion.
- Banco Santander is ranked the world’s third best bank and the first in Europe in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), the reference index in the environmental sphere which measures companies’ performance in sustainability matters, in three dimensions (economic, social and environmental).
- Fortune magazine included Santander in its 2018 Change the World ranking, which includes a small group of companies that “combine success with their contribution to society” by generating a positive social impact with initiatives that form part of their business strategy.
- Banco Santander signed an agreement with Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities and the chairman of Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) to launch the Santander Erasmus Scholarship programme, which recognises the excellence of Erasmus+ students and favours inclusive education and equality of opportunity.
- The Bank, via Santander Responsabilidad Solidario managed by Santander Asset Management Spain, provided EUR 2.6 million for various socio-labour insertion projects of collectives at risk of social exclusion.