Santander weighs up to 3,000 early retirements in Spain amid AI shift, newspaper says

MADRID, June 24 (Reuters) - Spain's Santander has begun talks with unions over a plan to offer early voluntary retirement to up to 3,000 employees in Spain, Spanish newspaper Expansion reported on Wednesday.

The move comes as banks across Europe brace for the impact of AI, which is expected to streamline operations while reducing staffing needs, particularly in administrative roles.

Santander said discussions with unions were ongoing to set a framework for voluntary early retirements for staff and there were no specific targets of how many people would be affected.

Comisiones Obreras, the biggest union in the Spanish banking sector, said it had started negotiations with the bank, set to continue until July, for voluntary retirements extending until 2028, but added they were not part of a mandatory restructuring plan and no figure had been set.

In 2025, around 800 staff in Spain left Santander under a similar retirement scheme. This year around 400 have left so far, the union spokesperson said.

Expansion said, citing sources familiar with the negotiations, that the potential staff reduction of between 2,000 and 3,000 employees could affect 10% to 15% of the lender's around 20,000 employees in its home country.

Taking into account the corporate centre, which houses the global headquarters, the number of employees rises to 34,000.

Under the scheme being negotiated, Santander is offering 74% of gross annual pay for employees aged 55 to 57, and 76% for those aged 58 and above, the union representative said.

In its strategy update in February, Santander said that initiatives in the AI field would bring more than €1 billion ($1.14 billion) in cost savings and revenue by 2028.

Like other European banks, Santander has already cut its workforce to reduce costs by about 14,000 employees in the last two years, bringing the global number of staff to below 200,000.

($1 = 0.8798 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by David Latona and Milla Nissi-Prussak)