The retreat of European banks from Wall Street is officially over.
Santander (SAN) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire US regional lender Webster Financial (WBS) in a deal valued at $12.2 billion. The move serves as a massive strategic bet by Executive Chair Ana Botín, catapulting the Spanish giant into the top tier of US retail and commercial banking.
🏦 THE SCALE PLAY:
- The Rank: The combined entity will hold ~$327 billion in assets, securing a spot among the top 10 largest retail/commercial banks in the US.
- The Deal: Shareholders receive 2.0548 Santander shares + $48.75 cash per Webster share.
- The Synergy: Expected to deliver $800 million in cost synergies (~19% of the cost base) and lower funding costs across the US franchise.
🗳️ THE TRUMP BUMP: This is one of the first major tests of the new M&A landscape.
- Context: Following Fifth Third’s recent $10.8B bid for Comerica, this deal signals that global banks believe the Trump administration’s regulators are open for business.
- Strategy: Unlike peers (like BBVA or HSBC) who sold US assets to focus on home markets, Santander is doing the opposite—hiring ex-Credit Suisse bankers and buying regional liquidity to build a transatlantic powerhouse.
💡 ANALYST TAKEAWAY: Ana Botín is playing offense. By targeting a 20% RoTE at the group level by 2028, she is signaling that Santander isn’t just a “European bank with a US branch”—it is a full-fledged US competitor. The market reaction (shares down 6.4%) reflects the execution risk, but if they can integrate Webster’s low-cost deposit base with Santander’s auto-lending engine, they solve the funding puzzle that has plagued foreign banks in America for decades.
👇 FIG Bankers: Is this the start of a new wave of cross-border banking consolidation, or is Santander a unique case?