Santander has announced it plans to build a new technology platform for its global consumer banking customers.

Santander's executive chair Ana Botín told Reuters on Wednesday that it will build the platform in the US, the bank’s third largest market by revenue.

The platform will reportedly include digital-only banking and consumer finance.

Botín said that the platform will be rolled out to both its retail and commercial operations around the world, making up almost 50 per cent of the organisation’s profits.

She went on to say that the platform is “coming together in the US” this year but explained that it will be expanded to other markets more slowly.

It's likely the plans will be headed up by Swati Bhatia, who was announced as Santander's new head of retail banking and transformation in April.

At the time, the bank said that Bhatia would lead the US consumer and banking business and all related digital transformation initiatives, including scaling its digital platform and growing the business in the country.

Botín's comments come several months after Santander Mexico announced plans to launch a new digital bank.

Speaking at an event in January, Santander Mexico’s head of digital innovation Matias Nunez said that its digital banking service ‘Openbank’ will be introduced “this year".

"I hope in just a few months we'll be back here to talk about the launch," said Nunez at the time.

The head of digital innovation also said that the bank had recently introduced several other digital services in the country, including a ChatGPT-powered customer service bot.

Earlier this year, Santander customers reported issues with cash transfers and payments from their online banking accounts, with the bank announcing it had faced a "technical issue" which triggered delays to faster payments.

It also hit the headlines last month after a third-party-run database suffered a breach impacting both customers and employees at the bank.

After an investigation, Santander found that customer data in Chile, Spain and Uruguay was accessed during the breach, while all of the bank’s current employees across the group were impacted by the incident.

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