Santander has completed the migration of its entire core banking system to Gravity, the bank’s cloud-based platform, in Spain. 

The platform provides “easier and faster” access to data, shortens the time to launch new functionalities from weeks to hours, and allows more frequent app updates, according to the bank’s press release. 

“This helps generate value for Santander España customers by offering better products and services, and also boosts efficiency,” the statement said. 

Santander España, which handles more than 4.3 billion transactions per year and experiences peaks of up to 33,000 transactions per second, is expected to benefit from improved operational efficiency.  

Santander España CEO Ignacio Juliá said: “The deployment of Gravity in Santander España marks a decisive step in the execution of our transformation, as we continue to make headway with other initiatives to evolve our operating model.  

“This milestone enables us to offer our customers a more agile, efficient and secure experience. I want to congratulate the more than 1,000 people involved for their commitment and excellence in bringing this strategic project to life.” 

Santander’s future plans include deploying Gravity in Brazil and Mexico.  

Once these rollouts are complete, the group will have moved around 80% of its core technology infrastructure to cloud-based systems globally.  

When fully rolled out, Gravity is expected to process over one trillion technical operations annually across Santander’s systems.  

The platform, developed using capabilities from both in-house and third-party providers, supports nearly 30,000 software developers and engineers in building customer-focused applications. 

Santander Group chief operating and technology officer Dirk Marzluf said: “Gravity makes Santander a ‘digital native’ company, with the agility and capability to provide the best customer experience and the security we’ve always offered.  

“We are getting closer to fulfilling Santander’s vision of becoming the best open platform for financial services.” 

Last month, it has been reported that Banco Santander turned down a bid from NatWest for its UK retail banking operations.