Strategy and business model of Santander Bank Polska Group

Between 2021 and 2023, Santander Bank Polska Group pursued a strategy based on its mission and six strategic directions:

The adopted strategic directions were interdependent and indicated the most important areas on which the Group’s transformation focused. Details of the strategy for 2021-2023 are presented in the ESG Report 2022.

An important part of our business strategy between 2021 to 2023 was the Responsible Banking Strategy, which defined our approach to ESG topics. The cornerstone of its implementation were actions aimed at strengthening corporate culture and increasing the Group’s commitment to sustainable finance.

The bank verified the achievement of its strategic objectives at the top management level by monitoring the results delivered in relation to the ambitions set. These ambitions are presented in the table below:

In 2023, the Santander Bank Polska Group has achieved all of its ambitions.

For the period 2024-2026, the Management Board has adopted for implementation the strategy ”We help you achieve more”. The strategy is based on our mission statement ”We help people and businesses prosper”, in addition to three strategic directions: Total Experience, Total Digitalisation and Total Responsibility.

• Our strategy is people-oriented: we focus on customers and employees. We are committed to evoking positive emotions by offering exceptional experience that exceeds the expectations of our stakeholders. We want to do that in the world that surrounds our customers – an increasingly digital, but still in need of human interaction. We know that customer satisfaction and employee engagement are key to our success. This is what our first strategic direction – Total Experience – is about.
• We also know that positive emotions and experience to a large extent depend on the interactions in the digital world. That is why, with increased determination, we follow the path of digital innovation offering our customers new possibilities in remote channels and ensuring our employees effective processes. This is what our second strategic direction – Total Digitalisation – is about.
• Challenges we face as a bank and society require huge responsibility. We consciously make ethical decisions, keeping in mind our impact on the community and the environment. With a sustainable business model, we create value for customers, employees, shareholders and local communities, working towards a better future for our children and our planet. This is what our third strategic direction – Total Responsibility – is about.

Topics related to the sustainability area are included in the strategy, in particular in the strategic direction Total Responsibility. This direction defines a number of ambitions for specific ESG areas:

• environmental, in which the bank is a role model for sustainability and transformation and supports customers in making the green transition,
• social, in which the bank supports society through education, tackling financial and digital exclusion and making social investments. It promotes inclusiveness and diversity among employees and ensures a high level of cyber security,
• governance, through which the bank meets its commitments to all stakeholders and operates in compliance with regulatory requirements, ensuring security and stability and strengthening customer confidence. In addition, the bank maintains a dialogue with regulators and industry organisations about new legislative developments and builds a culture of risk management.

The business model of our Group is invariably based on offering state-of-the-art financial solutions to private customers, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as Polish and multinational corporations. The Group provides a wide range of domestic and international banking and financial services. Our priority is to ensure the loyalty of our customers and the commitment of our employees, which leads to an increase in revenues, receivables and deposits.

The Santander Bank Polska S.A.’s offer is modern, comprehensive and meets the diverse needs of its customers in terms of bank accounts, credit, savings and investment, settlement, insurance and card products. The bank’s services include cash management, payments and foreign trade services, capital market operations, money market, foreign exchange and derivative transactions, as well as guarantee and brokerage services. Santander Bank Polska S.A. is one of the market leaders when it comes to the use of modern banking technologies and is consistently building its brand to become the bank of choice for customers in line with its strategic objective.

The bank’s own range of products is supplemented by the specialised products of the affiliated Group companies, such as Santander Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A., Santander Leasing S.A., Santander Factoring Sp. z o.o. and Santander Consumer Bank S.A.. Through cooperation with these companies, the Bank provides customers with access to investment funds, asset portfolios, leasing and factoring products and consumer loans:

We undertake all activities with our customers and their needs in mind. We design products, processes and channels of communication with customers using service design, so that our customers are satisfied with the services and keen to continue the relationship.

The single most important element in creating the value offered to customers is our employees. We build supportive working environment and organisational culture by promoting cooperation, equality, diversity and inclusiveness and by enhancing employee motivation, engagement and skills.