Coming up on a year in the summer, it has gone quickly, with, of course, the last three months being unusual with the Coronavirus pandemic and working from home.  I joined Santander Bank expecting to see incredible opportunity for growth - including our vast global network capabilities and the ability to align with international customers by providing growth financing in the US. 

I also had heard great things about the bank, the ABL team, and the ambition for growth and new businesses. I am pleased to say that I have not been disappointed – the opportunity has been excellent; the ambition is strong and there is a highly motivated ABL and supporting team in place.

I am proud of how the team has handled the disruptions brought about in the last few months. They have continued to work remotely as a collaborative team – within ABL and across the Bank - to support our customers. This teamwork has allowed us to stretch in every possible way to respond to and support the financing needs of our customers.

Also, I am proud that we have kept a new pipeline alive and strong even while it is difficult to close deals and complete diligence. 

In the short term it will be about continuing to support our customers and partners through the challenges of the current environment. Providing the needed support while always being mindful of the risk management role we play is always the goal -- and it is critically important at this time.

In addition, we have a good pipeline and our goals are to further build that pipeline of new client opportunities. We believe we will be well placed to grow and acquire new clients because of the strength of our team, the bank’s distinctive proposition and its diverse capabilities and solutions. 

Having a strong and experienced banking team that has supported clients through many different economic cycles will be what clients’ value and rely on. Continuing to retain and attract the best talent will remain a key focus and goal going forward. 

I mentioned above our distinctive capabilities and these are some of the areas that I would consider within that description. 

Our domestic and international cash-management solutions can be considered industry leading. Our online treasury management tools; Santander Treasury Link, Santander Enterprise Payments Link and Santander Cash Nexus; a comprehensive suite of global connectivity solutions that provides access to local payment initiation services in 15 markets around the world via a single point of entry. Santander Cash Nexus is of particular interest to multinationals.

Santander has the ability to provide the local, customized solutions clients in the U.S., Latin America, and the European markets we serve.

The recent market volatility highlights the value of strong capital markets and risk management capabilities. We have assisted clients’ access to debt markets at historically low rates, helped them hedge floating interest rates at very attractive rates, and with significant FX volatility have brought sound ideas and solutions to address that volatility.

With respect to supply chain solutions, while it would be rare for ABL borrowers to utilize ABL and supply chain financing in parallel, we have seen some opportunities. Our capabilities have focused on opening up doors across the bank to access our working capital solutions. Of course the fact that we are a leading commercial bank in many markets around the globe means that we can be there to work effectively and efficiently with local subsidiaries of U.S. groups and we can participate in the significant inward investment into the U.S. with international companies setting up and growing their business here.

The biggest adjustment has been working from home and that has been mostly seamless. Some people may have found it harder to get used to than others.  But it is working very well.

I think the hardest part for everybody is the inability to meet face-to-face with the customer, or, on the new business side, to be able to meet face-to-face with prospects.  We can, of course, do a lot of that remotely, but frankly it is not the same. However, everybody is dealing with the same situation.

Our support systems and technology have been incredible, and we have been fully operational in all areas while working remotely. Field exams have been a challenge, but we can do some work remotely. This was an unwanted test of our business continuity plans and it is great to know that our operational capabilities and plans have been successful. Again, it’s our people that are driving this success – not just in ABL - but in every area of the bank.

The other aspect of the COVID-19 challenge has been the Bank’s response to helping clients. The overwhelming response to government programs from businesses, specifically the Paycheck Protection Program, required extraordinary efforts by our people to help facilitate access to PPP loans for clients. Seeing hundreds of people come together and so many people working together so that we could process applications literally 24 hours a day to help clients who so desperately needed it was incredible, especially when this was for bank customers we would not normally see in ABL in terms of size and type of business. I am happy to say we have helped more than 10,000 clients of the Bank (so far) receive PPP loans.

Our commitment to commercial banking internationally and in the U.S. is significant (customers, offices, bankers, countries, products, etc.) but also in terms of the ability to reach across the economies we operate in. We are a significant contributor to the communities where we operate, and we take pride in helping our clients and businesses grow and prosper in every one of them. 

To fill that role in the U.S., a commercial bank must be strong in ABL. ABL is the means to serve customers in high growth mode with significant working capital investment or for companies that have a need for financing through either difficult times or strategic change. ABL is the solution for financing in certain industries at all times (retail and consumer distribution for example). Therefore, our commitment to ABL is directly related to our strong commitment to commercial banking and the business lifecycle of our customers.

There is always a time for ABL, but it certainly plays a more visible role when there is market volatility, economic uncertainty or disruption in financing markets. I think that is reasonably descriptive of where we currently find ourselves. And ABL is certainly playing a leading role at Santander.

Businesses are not the only entities impacted by COVID-19, as I have seen from sitting on a number of boards and as a board member of not-for-profit organizations. That means in my spare time, I have been working with these entities and other board members advising and walking through transitions, contingency plans and even PPP approach.  Hopefully, I was helpful and it was a great learning experience too.