Santander Sees €35 Million in AI-Generated Value in First Quarter
Key Facts
Santander said its AI initiatives generated €35 million in business value in the first quarter of 2026, offering a direct figure for what the bank describes as their impact. It set the figure against a target of more than €1 billion in business value between 2026 and 2028, from additional revenue and lower costs. The bank also said it expects generated value to exceed €200 million by the end of 2026. The figures provide a more specific picture of how the bank measures returns from its initiatives, with the first-quarter result distinct from the multiyear target and the year-end forecast. Novartis’s published financial results, by contrast, do not attribute its profit growth to AI and therefore do not by themselves show that the technology drove an improvement in its results.
For operational examples, Santander said it has more than 280 process automation agents in production. The bank said AI use in Brazilian card fraud claims made the process about 95% faster, with automation of up to 90% and an error rate below 1%. These metrics describe processing speed, automation and errors in a specific use case, rather than a single measure of AI’s impact across all the bank’s operations. In a separate customer-service trial, Santander said it improved the quality of conversations and cut costs by more than 50% using a more efficient AI model. The bank described this case as experimental, distinguishing the trial’s result from the business value it said its initiatives generated overall in the first quarter.
Novartis reported net sales of $14.522 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 4% year on year from $13.909 billion in the same period of 2025. Core operating income was $6.036 billion, up 10% at constant currencies, while company data showed an 11% increase in U.S. dollars for the measure. Net income moved in the opposite direction, falling 70% to $1.196 billion from $3.930 billion a year earlier. The comparison highlights the differing trends in the company’s indicators for the same quarter, with sales and core operating income rising while net income declined. The official results page does not link these figures to AI, so their growth should not be presented as a return caused by the technology.
The announcements come during an earnings season in which expectations focus on the contribution of technology companies and AI-related names to profit growth. Analysts forecast before the season that S&P 500 companies’ earnings would rise about 31% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, with technology and major AI companies contributing about two-thirds of the projected increase. Index earnings grew nearly 54% in the second quarter, but Reuters said growth was about 35% after excluding gains from the revaluation of AI-related investments at Alphabet and Amazon. The comparison puts earnings-season figures in a broader context: the overall rate differs from the rate after those gains are excluded. Reuters quoted investors as saying they were concerned the earnings growth cycle may be nearing its peak, as scrutiny increases of the capital spending needed to sustain the AI boom.
Novartis shares closed at $160.79 on Oct. 30, 2026. The session high cited in the previous draft was not included in the available data, so it is not included here. Santander announced a three-year collaboration framework with Nvidia on Oct. 19 covering foundational models, AI agents, fraud and money-laundering prevention, real-time decision-making and advanced simulation. The framework is a further step in the bank’s plan to build capabilities in these areas, while its stated value targets for 2026–2028 remain separate from the results of the use cases it cited. Novartis is scheduled to take part in the ZKB Swiss Equity Conference in Zurich on Nov. 5, 2026, according to its investor events calendar.