Banco Santander and the Spanish trade unions are expected to continue to negotiate in the coming weeks the framework governing early retirement for officials wishing to join the programme, although there is no specific target for redundancies or staff reductions.
© Lusa
24/06/2026
by
Lusa
Banco Santander
A the first meeting on the subject was held on tuesday, with the aim of creating a framework to regulate the conditions of exit for all employees.
An agreement of this kind had been claimed for some time by the unions.
However, pre-reforms are not new, as they have been granted so far.
A spokesman for Banco Santander told Europa Press that “there is no personnel goal” that has to leave the bank.
Moreover, in any case, it will be a voluntary procedure for both parties and the company may therefore refuse to have certain exits and workers are not required to join the programme.
The CGT indicated last week that it aimed to conclude this agreement by mid-July.
According to this trade union, negotiation should lead to an improvement in pre-reform conditions, taking advantage of the bank's financial soundness after achieving record profits and savings generated by both artificial intelligence (IA) and counter closure.
Santander closed the month of March with a total of 1,607 counters in Spain, which represents a reduction of 185 agencies compared to March 2025. At group level, it ended just over 1,000 agencies. Ten years ago, in March 2016, Santander had 3.433 agencies in Spain.
According to another statement released by the UGT last week, Santander committed to suspending the closures of agencies by the end of the year, although this does not exclude the possibility of some agencies being transferred to an agent.
With regard to the total number of employees in March, the bank had 185,000 employees at group level, representing a reduction of 11,000 workers compared to the previous year.
Asked about this reduction during the conference with analysts after disclosure of quarterly results, CEO Héctor Grisi indicated that it is a consequence of the transformation and simplification that the bank is implementing.
“ When you simplify and automate processes, you need fewer people than usual. And that is exactly what is happening,” said the CEO. Anyway, the bank expects to increase its staff as a result of TSB and Webster acquisitions.
Lusa contacted Santander to find out if this voluntary early retirement program will be implemented in Portugal and awaits response.