Santander CIB launches an asset distribution pilot supported by CrossLend

Santander Corporate and Investment Banking’s Private Debt Mobilization team has launched together with CrossLend a pilot with Santander Spain assets to mobilize Spanish SME and leveraged loans.

CrossLend is a Berlin-based digital debt marketplace providing technology for debt data handling as well as securitisation and distribution service.

This pilot is the very first step to build a private marketplace for assets distribution to investors. It could also become a new platform for intra-group asset rebalancing, by proactively mobilizing balance sheet assets and ultimately deploying ‘originate to share (OTS)’ business models.

The marketplace is intended to be a new distribution channel for small loans/portfolios coming from various businesses (retail, consumer, non-performing loans, etcetera).

CrossLend technology will enable a complementary channel for investors to access diversified investment opportunities to optimise yields, whilst developing a technology that can contribute to building the infrastructure for a Pan-European platform.

CrossLend’s marketplace brings an extra channel to connect Santander with the market, supporting existing settlement technologies and providing alternative settlement opportunities. It also enables implementing various applications to support new business activity (originate to share) and increases efficiency of existing businesses.

Mouro Capital, an autonomously managed venture capital fund focused on fintechs and adjacent businesses participated by Santander, invested in CrossLend in 2019.

Javier Rodríguez de Colmenares, global head of Private Debt Mobilitisation (PDM) at Santander CIB, said: “This pilot is a good example of collaboration across divisions and geographies, which is an essential factor to continue embedding innovation into the organisation. Furthermore, this is a great opportunity to work with investees from Mouro Capital such as CrossLend, to move towards a future of more industrialised asset mobilization. In turn, this could provide more tools to all divisions of the group to accelerate their balance sheet rotation velocity, enhancing their return on capital.”

Manuel Silva Martínez, general partner at Mouro Capital, said: “We invested in CrossLend under the hypothesis that their technology is able to make capital markets more efficient, transparent, and bring together more participants. The new products that Santander has successfully piloted bring in process efficiencies and product capabilities that are a breakthrough for the industry.”

Oliver Schimek, CEO and founder of Crosslend, said: "The future of banking requires technology that industrializes today's processes and allows the bank to offer services that seamlessly integrate value. We are proud to be part of Santander's journey of digitizing the bank's backend to prevail in the competition."

Reference: www.santander.com - 'Santander CIB launches an asset distribution pilot supported by CrossLend'

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Peel Hunt and Santander sign landmark underwriting collaboration agreement

UK investment bank Peel Hunt and leading international bank Santander have today entered into a major underwriting collaboration agreement, which will provide both parties with the scale, expertise and financial firepower to underwrite the UK’s largest equity capital markets (ECM) transactions.

This collaboration agreement combines Peel Hunt’s award winning research, strong UK, US and European distribution capabilities and ECM expertise, with Santander Corporate & Investment Banking’s European strength, global scale and cross-border underwriting capabilities.

Exclusive to Peel Hunt’s clients in the UK, the agreement extends across a range of share offerings, including primary offerings such as rights issues and placings to support M&A activity or bolster corporate balance sheets, as well as secondary offerings, including sell downs of large stakes by major shareholders.

Peel Hunt is a specialist in UK Investment Banking, with a 280-strong UK team, 157 corporate clients (including 34 in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250), and powerful sales and trading capabilities with a 14.9% share of London Stock Exchange trading volumes in 2020. The firm has ranked #1 for research in each of the last four years, and successfully raised £3.6bn across 69 equity capital markets transactions during 2019 and 2020.

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB) is the wholesale investment banking division of Banco Santander, one of the largest banks in Europe by market capitalisation, and supports corporate and institutional clients, offering tailored services and value-added wholesale products. In 2019 and 2020, Santander was one of the most active banks in European ECM, acting as Bookrunner on 23 deals with a cumulative value of €22.1 billion.

Steven Fine, Chief Executive of Peel Hunt, said:

“As our business has grown, so too have our clients and the size and number of high profile transactions on which we advise, underwrite and execute on a daily basis. With a strong eye to the future, we are delighted to be entering into this collaboration agreement with a bank of Santander’s global reach, reputation, and commitment to UK companies, which will enhance our ability to underwrite substantial ECM transactions.

“This landmark collaboration combines our in depth market knowledge and expertise with a powerful underwriting capability that will enable us to enhance our full service offer to our clients and further support our growth ambitions and those of the companies for whom we act.”

José M. Linares, Global head of Santander CIB, said:

“We aim to establish Santander CIB as one of the leading corporate and investment banks in Europe, and this collaboration is an important step towards that goal. The agreement with Peel Hunt combines our respective strengths and expertise to expand our client reach and further enhance the services we offer. We look forward to working together.”

- ENDS -

For more information, please contact:

MHP Communications
Giles Robinson/ Rachel Mann/ Robert Collett-Creedy
+44 20 3128 8788
peelhunt@mhpc.com

Santander
Corporate communications
+34 91 2895211
comunicacion@gruposantander.com

About Peel Hunt
Peel Hunt is an Investment Bank with highly rated, sector-aligned Research, Sales and Investment Banking teams, with a current retained corporate client list of 157 listed companies, over 1,200 institutions who have signed up to receive its research, and a trading platform that makes markets in more than 3,500 equity and fixed income products.

Peel Hunt ranked 1st for research in the 2020 Institutional Investor Survey (previously known as Extel) of UK Small & Mid Cap Brokerage Firms for the fourth successive year, while its sector teams achieved more Top 3 rankings than any other broker.

www.peelhunt.com | LinkedIn | Twitter

About Santander
Banco Santander is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful presence in 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, and is one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. Its purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising over €120 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2025, as well as financially empowering more than 10 million people over the same period. At the end of 2020, Banco Santander had more than a trillion euros in total funds, 148 million customers, of which 22.8 million are loyal and 42.4 million are digital, 11,000 branches and 191,000 employees.

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Santander CIB launches dedicated Digital Solutions team

Joao Simao will lead the new team as Global Head of Digital Solutions Group.

The new unit will partner with global coverage and product teams, providing comprehensive support in the digital acceleration of customer’s business as well as developing value-added products and services, both in-house and in partnership with new entrants.

Madrid, 1st February 2020 - PRESS RELEASE

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB) announced today the creation of a dedicated team to boost its offering in the area of Digital Solutions. This new global team, headed by Joao Simao, will collaborate closely with product teams across our platform to support our clients by providing strategic solutions as well as product and financing structures to help our clients in the digital acceleration of their business.

The new team will also develop value-added products and services, both in-house and in partnership with new entrants, in a moment where customer expectations and emerging technologies are accelerating the creation of new financial technology players.

Simao will lead the new team as Global Head of Digital Solutions, reporting to Darren Jones, Head SCIB UK and global head of Banking and Corporate Finance. This new team will elevate Santander’s strategic dialogue with clients in the area of technological and digital solutions, by developing innovative, sustainable and profitable digital capabilities and providing state of the art advisory services. It will produce also value-added products and services for clients, both in-house and in partnership with new entrants

Digital acceleration and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) are the defining trends for years to come. In 2020, Santander CIB successfully launched a dedicated ESG Solutions Team to help our clients in their transition towards a more sustainable business model. With the new Digital Solutions team, we are replicating the model to fully-leverage our internal expertise on the Digital arena.

About Santander Corporate Investment Banking

Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful presence in 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, and is one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. Its purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising over €120 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2025, as well as financially empowering more than 10 million people over the same period. At the end of the third quarter of 2020, Banco Santander had more than a trillion euros in total funds, 147 million customers, of which 22 million are loyal and 41 million are digital, 11,500 branches and 193,000 employees.

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB) is Santander’s global division that supports corporate and institutional clients, offering tailored services and value-added wholesale products suited to their complexity and sophistication, as well as to responsible banking standards that contribute to the progress of society.

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Santander CIB reaches new milestone in its sustainability agenda with first ESG corporate finance advisory role in Hydrogen for an industrial player

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking has been a leading bank in financing and advising its customers on the deployment of renewable energy. Last summer, it set up a dedicated Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Solutions team to help its clients in their transformation journey towards a low carbon economy and more sustainable business models.

This week, the team disclosed its first corporate finance advisory role, acting as sole financial advisor to Plug Power, a US-based global leader in fuel cell systems and hydrogen related services, in the launch of a 50-50 joint venture by the end of the first half of 2021 with Groupe Renault, a French-based top automotive player.

Plug Power and Renault will join forces to establish state-of-the-art innovation and manufacturing capabilities for hydrogen fuel cell systems and their integration in light-commercial vehicles (“LCV”) with the aim to become a leading European player.

Madrid, 13 January 2020 - PRESS RELEASE

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB) has reached a key milestone in its aim of supporting clients in their transition towards more responsible, social, and environmentally sustainable business models with the first corporate advisory role for an industrial player. The Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Solutions team is acting as sole financial advisor to Plug Power, a US-based global leader in fuel cell systems and hydrogen related services, in the launch of a joint venture with Groupe Renault, a top automotive player announced this week.

Together, the companies have the objective to become a leading player in the research and development, manufacturing and sale of fuel cell-powered vehicles and hydrogen turn-key solutions in Europe with a 50-50 joint venture based in France by the end of the first half of 2021.

José M. Linares, global head of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, said: “Santander CIB role in this joint venture proves that we are committed to help our clients in their transformation towards a low carbon economy and more sustainable business models. This partnership is an important step forward in the transition to sustainable transportation and we are delighted to have supported this exciting venture.”

Increasingly, companies and investors are looking to integrate ESG in their strategic choices, business models, and capital allocation. As they embrace sustainability and evolve on their sustainability journey, Santander CIB wants to be their partner of choice.

Santander CIB started to explore hydrogen three years ago and has gained a deep understanding of its end-to-end ecosystem from a technological, industrial and commercial standpoint.

The deal follows a number of other transactions which the bank has carried out, including an ESG-linked facility for Airbus (the first of its kind in the aerospace sector); Mexico’s first ever ‘gender bond’ issuance; and the first sustainability-linked bond in Poland issued by Tauron.

Being a leader in the area of sustainability has been a long-standing ambition for Santander CIB, supporting our clients in achieving their own ESG objectives. For more than a decade, Santander CIB has been a leading bank in financing and advising its customers on the deployment of renewable energy.

Santander’s goal is to build a more responsible bank. It has made a number of additional commitments to support this objective, setting a target to mobilise over €120 billion euros in green finance between 2019 and 2025. This figure will increase to €220 billion euros in 2030 and includes the Group´s overall contribution to green finance: project finance, syndicated loans, green bonds, capital and export finance, advisory and other products.

Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful presence in 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, and is one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. Its purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising over €120 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2025, as well as financially empowering more than 10 million people over the same period. At the end of the third quarter of 2020, Banco Santander had more than a trillion euros in total funds, 147 million customers, of which 22 million are loyal and 41 million are digital, 11,500 branches and 193,000 employees.

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Automation in banking – no one size fits all

Over the last ten years, the financial services industry has been dominated by themes such as; disruption, digital transformation, customer experience, ecosystems and innovation. Reading a financial services article is likely to bear reference to at least one of the above themes if attempting to explain what is currently happening to the financial services industry.

The proposed execution of disruption or innovation in financial services is regularly accompanied by the recommended use of one of the following automation enabling technologies; artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, machine learning (ML), blockchain, optical character recognition (OCR), or robotic process automation (RPA).

Automation Opportunities

With many of the banks´ middle and back office functions being characterized as having manual and repetitive tasks, as well as having multiple processes which are bolted-on (i.e. one on top of another) – the case for automation is an obvious one, and has hence received its title in banking as the “low hanging fruit” for many industry incumbents wishing to continue their innovation journey.

An Integrated Approach

Although the business case for automation almost writes itself, what´s not well understood is that applying one automation tool in isolation (such as RPA) can lead to one of two tactical risks:

A hammer looking for a nail – trying to apply RPA to every single process
Using nails to solve every problem – where other solutions are available

The alternative, is understanding that RPA forms part of a more sophisticated toolkit of individual technologies (AI, Chatbots, ML, OCR, RPA, Robotic Desktop Automation, RDA), which can be applied in an integrated and creative way to fully optimize the end-to-end banking supply chain, instead of solely automating an existing manual process.

Approaching the opportunity to automate with a design thinking mentality, and utilizing all the available automation tools in an integrated way, is often referred to as intelligent automation.

An Optimized Workforce – Moments of Truth

Relentless automation is not necessarily the answer. Automation ideally enables a talented workforce to add optimal value and experience to the steps of the process that matter to clients the most (after all banking is built on two cornerstone values: trust and relationships).

Automation does not offer exact equivalence to the values of an organisation (taking one of our own for example; personal). However, utilising automation can give organizations a platform to better fulfill core values - How?

Zoom in, Zoom out

Using a design-thinking approach for process improvement allows organizations to zoom in on the parts of the process which make the transaction worth-while for clients (“moments of truth”) and avoid team fatigue of supporting the binary repetitive steps (zoom out).

The experience banks offer at these particular moments of truth can be elevated and enhanced by workforce teams - who have since been relieved of the monotonous dull components of reaching that same moment, which existed in a previously manual process.

Longer-term impact

There is a common misconception that automation will eventually replace all humans and lead to mass unemployment. As with all technology, it is true that automation will shift the flow of employment, but this does not necessarily mean it will negatively impact it.

An example of where this has happened before: prior to the invention of cars, employment existed in horse-drawn carts with specialized employment in; cart manufacturing, wheel repairs, blacksmiths (for horse-shoes), and carriage drivers.

The arrival of cars eliminated many of the previously mentioned jobs, but in their place, created the need for mechanics, car manufacturers, car dealers, taxi drivers, and so on. In the same way, automation will shift the flow of employment from manual back office tasks, whilst creating the need for a number of other value-add positions.

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking

At Santander CIB, our innovation focus continues to be on a design-thinking approach for the delivery of utility; through which our core values can be transmitted to our clients and partners.

We have come to learn that intelligent automation, along with other innovative technologies, can empower our incredible workforce to deliver a simple, personal, and fair service at an even higher standard than has ever been previously possible.

Head of Santander CIB and Banking in France

Laurence Boone

Laurence Boone is the head of Santander CIB France (including Branch Manager France) and head of Banking France.

Laurence has an extensive track record in both the private and public sectors. With a background in economics, she has held senior positions in various international financial institutions, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, and AXA.

She has also held senior positions in the public sector serving as Special Advisor on Multilateral and European Economic and Financial Affairs to President François Hollande, Deputy Secretary General and Chief Economist of the OECD and most recently Minister of State for Europe of the French Republic.

She holds a Master´s degree in Econometrics from the Université Paris X Nanterre – France and a PhD in Econometrics from the London Business School.

Head of Santander CIB and Banking in The Netherlands

Niels Ackerman

Niels Ackerman is the head of Santander CIB and head of Banking in the Netherlands.

Niels has over 28 years of relevant Investment Banking experience. Prior to joining Santander CIB in 2020 to set up the Amsterdam branch, he spent 12 years with Deutsche Bank in London and Amsterdam with responsibility for the Benelux Corporate Finance and Institutional Client business as well as leadership roles managing EMEA Corporate Banking Coverage and Western Europe Capital Markets & Treasury Solutions. Prior to that Niels worked at Lehman Brothers, UBS Warburg and Merrill Lynch.

Niels has a Master’s degree in Economics from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam where he was also an assistant teacher in Finance and Investments.

Head of Santander CIB Italy and head of FIG Italy & Poland

Fabrizio Enrico Zenoni

In June 2010, Fabrizio has been appointed as Senior Banker and Head of Corporate & Investment Bank of Banco Santander – FIG Italy & Poland.

Fabrizio worked as Managing Director for Crédit Agricole from 2007 to 2010. As head of Coverage, he was in charge of a team responsible for origination with Italian Banks on Corporate and Investment Banking products. In Société Générale as Director, he was responsible for the coverage of Banks, Insurance Companies, Asset Managers, Banking Foundations and other Italian Financial Institutions.

Prior to Société Générale, Fabrizio spent 9 years at Citigroup’s Global Corporate & Investment Bank, where he held various positions in both FIG Coverage and Transaction banking as Country Specialist for Italy, Austria, Belgium and Netherland. Fabrizio has also joined BNP Paribas and JP Morgan in the Securities Lending Department.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the Università Bocconi. He studied Business and Finance at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Head of Santander CIB UK and Santander London Branch

Conor Hennebry

Conor leads Santander’s UK Corporate and Investment Banking business and is also Head of Santander London Branch (SLB).

Conor has worked at Santander since January 2019. Previously he led the global DCM and Syndicated Loan businesses. Prior to that he held similar roles at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley. He has worked on almost $500bn of bond and loan issues over a 20 year career in banking.

In 2009/10, Conor took a sabbatical from banking to work as Chief of Staff to Greg Clark, the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary and helped to write the Energy Security and Climate Change manifestos for the victorious 2010 Conservative election campaign. Conor is a member of the Irish government’s Global Irish Network, and of the Campaign Committee of the London Irish Centre.

Conor graduated from University College Cork in 1998 with an MSc in Finance. Conor lives in London with his wife and three children.

Head of Santander CIB Germany and head of Banking for the DACH & Nordic region

Tobias Heilmaier

Tobias Heilmaier is the Country Head Germany (including Branch Manager Germany) of Santander CIB and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Nordic Countries.

He joined Santander CIB in 2022 from JP Morgan, where he served as co-head of Investment Banking Germany. Previously, he worked at Goldman Sachs in different roles and teams for 11 years, with his last position being Head of EMEA Chemicals. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2016.

Tobias started his career at UBS Investment Bank and holds a Diplom-Kaufmann from the University of Bamberg.

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