Santander Merges European Consumer-Finance Businesses

By Elena Vardon

Santander is combining its consumer-finance businesses into a single legal entity which it will operate across Europe under the Openbank brand.

The Spanish bank is planning to merge Openbank, its brand for digital-first consumer banking, with Santander Consumer Finance, the division through which it offers personal loans and car finance.

The move, which is subject to regulatory approvals, aims to simplify the structure of these two units that sit within its Digital Consumer Bank global business and run them on a unified digital platform, it said Wednesday.

Openbank already operates in Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands as well as in Mexico and the U.S. The rebranding will start in Germany and be gradually rolled out to other European markets, it said.

"This combination will strengthen our position in key markets like Germany and across Europe, enabling us to offer customers a broader range of products and a seamless digital and in-branch experience," Nitin Prabhu, the head of Digital Consumer Bank's global business, said.

The Digital Consumer Bank is one of Santander's five primary segments and brought in around 15% of the overall group's profit in the first half of 2025.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2025 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT)