Santander is working on a deal with Amazon.com Inc that would see the Spanish bank offer financing options to the e-commerce giant's buyers across Europe.
The plan is to launch the consumer finance partnership in Germany first and then expand to other European countries, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing privacy concerns.
Representatives for Santander and Amazon declined to comment.
Santander is committed to expanding its digital consumer lending business, which accounted for about 10% of group revenue last year. The bank said in its latest annual report that one of the pillars of its strategy is to sign “flagship deals with major global technology companies.”
Such partnerships typically mean that when a shopper pays at an online store, they are offered a consumer loan to finance the purchase, and they provide the bank with a direct sales channel.Retailers also benefit from partnerships, as they enable customers to make purchases that they would not normally be able to make.
Santander's partnership with Amazon follows a deal last week with Apple Inc. to offer digital consumer credit to buyers of Apple products in Germany. The Amazon partnership is expected to bring bigger revenue growth than the Apple deal, according to people familiar with the matter.
