IBOS member Banco Santander recognised as the best bank in the world for both diversity & inclusion and SME’s by Euromoney

IBOS member Banco Santander has won Euromoney’s ‘Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion’ global award for the first time, and the ‘Best Bank for SMEs’ global award for third time in five years. 

Euromoney has highlighted Santander’s ambitious targets on diversity and inclusion, as well as the difficulty of rolling them out across a global network and outlined the advantages of its global SME franchise during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Santander has implemented a number of initiatives to support diversity and inclusion, including establishing a global minimum standard for parental leave across all its markets or micro-finance programmes to help low-income and underbanked population set up small businesses. The Bank has set a number of targets to increase diversity and inclusion within the business, including reaching between 40 to 60 per cent of women in the Board next year.

Since the start of the pandemic, Santander has helped more than six million customers through different initiatives such as payment deferrals in mortgages and loans for individuals and companies all around the world, accounting for 16% of its total portfolio. Across all of its markets, the Group is providing significant financial support to SMEs and corporates affected by COVID-19, extending an average of more than €1.6 billion every day in new lending to its customers, most of it SME’s, in April, May and June.

Santander has also implemented a number of initiatives this year to improve its products and services to SMEs, including new digital platforms to help companies strengthen their digital capabilities as they expand internationally (Ebury, Mercury TFS, We.Trade) or a fully digital invoice financing service for SMEs in Spain (Financia&Go).