A digital bank can gather more customer money than a 160-year-old institution
En menos de una década, Openbank ha dejado de ser un experimento digital para convertirse en una institución financiera de primer orden: con 134.000 millones de euros en depósitos y 27 millones de clientes en seis países, el banco digital de Santander ha superado a rivales históricos como Sabadell y Bankinter. Su ascenso refleja algo más amplio que el éxito de una empresa: el momento en que la banca tradicional deja de ser sinónimo de solidez, y la arquitectura digital demuestra que puede sostener el peso de la confianza masiva.
- Openbank ha superado los 134.000 millones de euros en depósitos, dejando atrás a Sabadell y situándose como el mayor neobank de España en menos de una década.
- La expansión en Estados Unidos y México ha sido vertiginosa: un millón de usuarios en México en menos de un año y 9.400 millones de euros captados en EE.UU. en solo 18 meses, ofreciendo rentabilidades muy por encima del mercado.
- El verdadero impacto estratégico llega cuando los depósitos de Openbank comienzan a financiar la cartera de préstamos de automóviles de Santander en EE.UU., ahorrando 128 millones de euros anuales en costes de financiación.
- La alianza con Verizon —renovada recientemente— ha demostrado que la banca digital puede crecer a través de ecosistemas no financieros, captando 1.200 millones de euros en depósitos mediante una propuesta de valor combinada.
- La fusión con Santander Consumer Finance en Europa y la apuesta por la inteligencia artificial apuntan a una siguiente fase de crecimiento donde la escala ya conseguida se convierte en palanca de rentabilidad.
Openbank, el brazo digital de Santander, ha alcanzado una dimensión que ya no admite el calificativo de 'alternativa'. Con 134.000 millones de euros en depósitos y más de 27 millones de clientes en España, Alemania, Países Bajos, Portugal, Estados Unidos y México, el banco gestiona una cartera crediticia de 216.000 millones. La dependencia de la financiación mayorista ha caído al 38%, señal de que el modelo se ha vuelto autosuficiente.
Los datos sitúan la transformación en perspectiva: Sabadell, cuarto banco tradicional de España, acumula 132.000 millones en depósitos de clientes; Bankinter, 96.450 millones. Openbank los supera a ambos, una inversión del orden establecido que habría parecido improbable hace apenas unos años.
El motor de este crecimiento ha sido América. En México, donde llegó hace menos de un año, ya suma un millón de usuarios compitiendo contra BBVA, Nubank y Revolut. En Estados Unidos, 18 meses de operaciones y una rentabilidad del 5,25% sobre el ahorro le han bastado para captar 11.000 millones de dólares. Pero el valor más profundo de esos depósitos no es su volumen: es que permiten financiar internamente la cartera de préstamos de automóviles de Santander en EE.UU., generando un ahorro neto de 128 millones de euros al año. El consejero delegado del grupo, Héctor Grisi, lo explicó con claridad ante analistas: Openbank es una herramienta estratégica para abaratar el capital en América.
La alianza con Verizon ha sido clave en ese mercado. Renovada recientemente, la asociación ofrece a los clientes una cuenta de ahorro con una rentabilidad diez veces superior a la media del sector y descuentos en la factura telefónica. El resultado: 1.200 millones de euros en depósitos en menos de un año.
Detrás de esta capacidad de escalar rápido hay una decisión tomada en 2017: migrar completamente a la nube, cuando casi ningún banco lo había hecho. Esa infraestructura, libre de los sistemas heredados que lastran a la banca tradicional, es lo que permite crecer sin fricciones. A ella se suma ahora la apuesta por la inteligencia artificial y, en Europa, la fusión con Santander Consumer Finance, que consolida dos operaciones digitales en una sola entidad para acelerar la venta cruzada y la personalización. Lo que comenzó como experimento se ha convertido en modelo.
Openbank, the digital banking arm of Santander, has reached a scale that rivals Spain's traditional banking establishment. The operation now holds 134 billion euros in deposits and serves more than 27 million customers across six countries—Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United States, and Mexico. Its lending portfolio stands at 216 billion euros. What began as an experiment in digital-first banking has become something else entirely: a major financial institution that no longer depends heavily on wholesale funding, which now accounts for just 38 percent of its capital base.
The numbers tell the story most clearly. Sabadell, once Spain's fourth-largest bank, manages 132 billion euros in customer deposits—less than Openbank. Bankinter, the next competitor down the list, handles 96.45 billion euros. Openbank has become the largest neobank in Spain and now operates at a scale comparable to any traditional Spanish bank, a transformation that occurred in less than a decade.
The expansion into North America has been the engine of this growth. In Mexico, where Openbank arrived less than a year ago, it has already attracted one million users despite competing against established players like BBVA, the Brazilian digital bank Nubank, and Revolut. The Mexican market is crowded and competitive, yet Openbank moved in and gained traction quickly. In the United States, the bank has been operating for eighteen months and has gathered 11 billion dollars—roughly 9.4 billion euros—in deposits. To grow at this pace, Openbank offered depositors a 5.25 percent return on savings, well above what most competitors were paying. The bank now has 235,000 users of significant scale in the American market.
What makes the American operation particularly valuable to Santander is not just the deposits themselves but what they enable. The bank's primary lending business in the United States centers on auto financing. By March of this year, Santander's entire portfolio of auto loans was being financed from Openbank's own deposit base rather than from external funding sources. This shift has generated net savings of 150 million dollars—128 million euros—annually. Héctor Grisi, Santander's chief executive, explained this arrangement to analysts during the bank's most recent quarterly earnings presentation, framing Openbank as a strategic tool for reducing the cost of capital across the group's American operations.
A partnership with Verizon, the American telecommunications company, has been central to Openbank's success in the United States. The agreement, which was recently renewed after beginning in 2025, has proven critical to the bank's market entry. Through this partnership, Openbank has attracted 1.2 billion euros in deposits in less than a year. The two companies offer customers a high-yield savings account that pays interest at roughly ten times the average rate offered by competitors—around 4 percent—plus the ability to save up to 180 dollars annually on Verizon phone bills. It is a straightforward value proposition that has worked.
Openbank built its foundation on technological infrastructure that was ahead of its time. In 2017, it became one of the first banks globally to operate on a fully cloud-based platform, a decision that has allowed it to scale rapidly without the legacy systems that constrain traditional banks. The bank now offers a broad range of products, including cryptocurrency trading, which it added last year. The organization is focused on deploying artificial intelligence to increase productivity, personalize offerings, and reduce service costs.
In Europe, Santander has recently merged Openbank with Santander Consumer Finance, consolidating two digital operations into a single legal entity. The bank argues that operating as one organization will accelerate cross-selling opportunities and speed the deployment of AI-driven improvements across the customer base. The move signals confidence that Openbank's model can continue to expand and that the digital-first approach to banking, once considered experimental, has become the future.
Citas Notables
From March 1st, our entire auto loan portfolio is financed with our own deposits— Héctor Grisi, Santander CEO
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter that Openbank now holds more deposits than Sabadell? Isn't that just a number?
It matters because it shows the old model is losing. Sabadell is a 160-year-old institution with branches everywhere. Openbank is barely a decade old and has no physical footprint. If a digital bank can gather more customer money than a traditional one, it means customers are choosing speed and simplicity over the comfort of walking into a building.
But Openbank is still part of Santander, a massive traditional bank. Isn't that cheating?
Not really. Openbank operates independently—it has its own technology, its own brand, its own culture. The fact that Santander owns it is almost beside the point. What matters is that the digital model works at scale. Openbank proves you can serve 27 million people without a branch network.
The Mexico story seems almost too fast. One million users in a year?
It is fast, but it's not magic. Openbank entered a market where people were already comfortable with digital banking. They offered something simple and competitive. Speed matters when you're the new entrant—you have to prove yourself before the market hardens around existing players.
What about the Verizon deal? That feels like the real story.
It is. That partnership gave Openbank a distribution channel and a reason for people to switch. You're not just getting a bank account; you're getting a discount on your phone bill. It's a wedge. Once you have the account, you stay.
Is Openbank actually profitable, or is it just growing by paying high interest rates?
That's the right question. The bank is profitable in the United States because it's financing auto loans at lower cost than Santander could before. The deposits fund the lending. In Mexico and Europe, it's still building. But the model works when you have a clear use case—like auto financing—that the deposits can support.