Santander Reaches $700 Million Deal to Use IBM’s Blockchain Tech

Prominent European bank, Banco Santander, and tech giant IBM have proclaimed they have settled on an agreement to accelerate the bank’s development of innovations like blockchain.

The news was made public in a press release published on February 13.

The five-year global technology agreement is geared at augmenting the financial institution’s services with the use of nascent technologies — such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and big data — provided by IBM.

The deal between IBM and the largest financial and credit group in Spain is said to be valued at an estimated $700 million. The move seeks to slash the bank’s annual costs on IT spending and “significantly enable Santander Group to evolve towards the open, flexible and modern IT environment it requires,” the press release cited.

David Soto, IBM General Manager for Santander Group, was quoted as saying:

“Santander Group is leveraging IBM technologies to support their security and regulatory work, and to rapidly develop new services that meet emerging customer demand by tapping into IBM’s unique technology and industry expertise.”