Transforming Santander through Gravity: Insights from 7 Key Questions
Santander, a global banking giant, has taken a significant step forward in its digital transformation journey with the development and implementation of its proprietary core banking platform, Gravity. This cutting-edge technology promises to revolutionise the bank's operations, setting it apart from both traditional banks and fintechs.
Gravity, a cloud-native platform designed for speed, security, and efficiency, gives Santander full control and strategic independence over its core banking infrastructure. By reducing reliance on third-party vendors, the bank can continuously optimise its systems to meet its evolving needs.
One of the key advantages of Gravity is its massive scalability. The platform, which currently handles over 4.3 billion annual transactions in Spain, is designed to target one trillion operations globally. This scalability enables Santander to handle high transaction volumes and peaks of 33,000 transactions per second.
Gravity also enables real-time, event-driven banking, allowing Santander to respond instantly to customer life events, such as mortgage approvals and transaction failures. This feature enhances customer centricity and satisfaction.
In addition, Gravity promises to accelerate innovation by reducing development cycles from weeks to hours. This rapid deployment of new features and services is crucial for staying competitive in a fast-evolving financial landscape.
Gravity is also reported to cut IT energy consumption by 70% and reduce operating costs by 40%, though the long-term financial impact remains to be fully validated. The platform also supports parallel processing, a capability commercialised by Google Cloud as “Dual Run”, allowing for seamless testing and migration without disrupting live operations.
Santander has already migrated its core technology infrastructure in Spain to Gravity, making it the first major global bank to digitize its core with proprietary software. By 2026, the bank aims to extend Gravity to Brazil and Mexico, covering 80% of its global operations. This phased approach prioritises its largest and most strategic markets.
As part of its digital transformation, Santander is closing underperforming branches and reallocating resources to high-growth areas and digital channels, supported by Gravity’s scalability and efficiency gains. Worldwide, Gravity is expected to deliver faster data access, more agile commercial processes, and a more responsive, event-driven banking experience for customers.
Gravity represents a bold bet on in-house technology, aiming to future-proof Santander’s operations against both legacy inefficiencies and fintech disruption. If successful, Gravity could redefine how large banks approach core system modernization and digital transformation.
Santander's digital transformation also involves moving its 173 million customers to a common operating model supported by a common tech stack, named One Transformation. The bank's launch of Openbank in the US marks the first time the bank is combining its core banking infrastructure, Gravity, with an intuitive customer interface.
Innovation doesn't stop there. Santander's 'Be Tech! with Santander' global recruitment plan targets STEM professionals, aiming to attract and retain top technology talent. The bank also boasts an innovative branch concept called Work Café.
In conclusion, Santander's Gravity core banking platform is a testament to the bank's commitment to digital transformation and innovation. As the bank continues to implement and refine Gravity, it will be interesting to see how it reshapes the banking industry. More information about Santander's annual report, responsible banking initiatives, Openbank, and other aspects of the bank's digital transformation can be found online.
Gravity, the proprietary core banking platform developed by Santander, is designed for speed, security, and efficiency, allowing the bank to have full control over its core banking infrastructure and reducing reliance on external vendors. This scalable technology, capable of handling over one trillion operations globally, includes features like real-time transaction processing, instant responses to customer life events, and rapid deployment of new services, making it a game-changer in digital banking.
