Santander traspasa 1.200 sucursales a autónomos

Santander has recently transferred 1,200 of its branches to independent agents. This is just 250 more than the number of branches managed by the bank itself across the national territory. The model has been implemented in cities like Sevilla, Valencia, Bilbao, and Madrid. For years, Santander has been entrusting smaller, less profitable branches to agents, typically located in Spain's depopulated regions.

The bank is increasingly relying on agents to manage medium-sized offices, with five to six employees. This approach is similar to franchising and is also applied in several tourist cities and provincial capitals such as Sevilla, Valencia, Bilbao, and Madrid, according to financial sources.

The number of Santander branches has reached 1,200, just 250 short of the total commercial network managed by the bank. In the past five years, the number of branches managed by the bank has halved, decreasing from 3,200 to the current 1,458. Many branches have been permanently closed due to insufficient business or the opening of larger advisory branches that consolidate several smaller ones.

However, an equal number of branches have been handed over to independent agents. Before the pandemic, the number of branches under this arrangement did not reach a thousand. Now, it has reached 1,200, thanks to Ignacio Julián, who joined Santander from ING. This trend has accelerated under his leadership. Agents have a commercial contract with Santander and receive commissions for advising and selling products.

The terms are confidential. The bank argues that this model reduces fixed costs, although it also increases the risk of business decline. Sources from the bank assure otherwise. Santander requires agents to have proven experience in the banking sector, exclusive dedication, and to hold Mifid certification, which is mandatory for selling investment products.

They cannot have any previous ties with the bank, so they are usually retired employees from competing entities and insurance brokers. Santander provides agents with its product catalog, operational platform, computers, and client portfolio, while the bank bears the commercial risk, pays salaries, covers rent (whether it is Santander's or someone else's), and supplies.

BBVA has only around 300 branches, and CaixaBank barely uses this model, considering it exceptional. However, it is more common in Unicaja and Bankinter. It is also more frequent in private banking.

Despite the digital paradigm shift, branches are still considered necessary by Spanish bankers. Recently, Hector Grisi, Santander's CEO, affirmed that eight out of ten new client registrations still occur in branches, not just in Spain but across all countries where the bank operates. However, the concept of the office is continuously being revised and monitored because the main fixed cost for any financial entity is its branch network and the staff salary pool.

Recently, Santander has agreed on a pre-retirement plan for Spain, which could be joined by employees over 55 years old. This plan will be in effect for two and a half years, longer than usual in such cases. Currently, 25% of the workforce falls into this age group. Those over 58 years old who leave the company will receive 76% of their gross annual salary.