Banco Santander's digital-only subsidiary Openbank has moved to the cloud, going all-in on Amazon Web Services.
Launched in 1995 as a telephone-based banking offshoot, Openbank relaunched last year as a digital-only operation, transferring all IT assets and client transactions to the cloud.
The unit, which has 1.3 million customers in Spain, will run production workloads on AWS, including its website, mobile application, and core banking system.
A major reason for the cloud migration is Santander's plan to expand Openbank internationally, using AWS’s global infrastructure to increase redundancy and fault tolerance by replicating key systems across geographic regions.
Cristóbal Miralles, chief technology and operating officer, Openbank, says: "AWS enabled us to launch a secure and reliable digital bank in a multinational environment, complying with European regulation in record time.
"We are using the most comprehensive set of cloud services to evolve our customer service models, and help us meet the rigorous requirements of stakeholders and regulators who need transparency into and proof of robust security architectures that protect both our customers and proprietary data."
The bank is also preparing to use AWS’s advanced machine learning technologies like Amazon SageMaker to automate tasks related to financial operations and use more analytics capabilities to gain insights into what customers want.
This week AWS also revealed that it has signed Ellie Mae and Guardian Life Insurance. Says Guardian's Dean Del Vecchio: "AWS has helped Guardian get ahead of insurance industry disruption driven by new technology and changing customer expectations".