Santander’s payment subsidiary, PagoNxt, posted another quarter of good results, with strong growth in payment volumes across all its major markets. This performance highlights the success of Santander’s strategy to in-source and consolidate its payment activities. PagoNxt comprises all of Santander’s payment assets, including Getnet, a leading multi-national merchant acquirer, Ebury (trade finance), Payments Hub, and Superdigital, a financial marketplace for the economic inclusion of the underbanked.
Getnet, PagoNxt’s merchant services unit grew total volume processed 22% in Q2 2023 to €49bn with ATV falling 9% to €21.78.
Volume grew in most major markets in the first half, with increases of 32% in Europe, 31% in Mexico and 15% in Brazil. The positive performance in Europe was driven by continued rebound in Spain as travel and tourism recover from the pandemic. The business opened Getnet Portugal with a range of Newland terminals nicely branded with Santander’s shade of red. It’s suprising how often banks miss the opportunity to use payment devices to raise brand awareness,
A core plank of the Getnet strategy is to expand the geographic footprint based on a standard set of global products. Management highlighted launches in H1 of a working capital solution, dynamic currency conversion, Android POS and vertical propositions for airlines and restaurants. The Android POS is called Get Smart and is available in Spain but only for customers with “a high volume of sales.”
In Latin America, where Getnet claims to be the third largest acquirer, the business has launched its services in Argentina and begun leveraging the global platforms in Mexico. Management expects to launch in Chile during the second half of this year.
Away from Getnet, PagoNxt says Payments Hub has made significant progress to become Santander’s wholesale payments processing provider. It claims that a “significant volume” of payments in Spain has already been migrated making the business “one of the largest A2A payment processors in the Eurozone.” Management also reports “making progress” in consolidating wholesale payments from operations in Brazil, Mexico and the UK to the Payments Hub global platform.
Total PagoNxt revenue from all divisions was up 17% at €277m in Q2 and with operating expenses rising just 14%, there was a slight improvement in the operating loss to €18m. The higher expenses reflect the “ongoing investment plans to develop and implement global technology.”
