Santander to accelerate rollout of eco-friendly cards in Europe

By Megha Bhattacharya

Banco Santander announced that it will be accelerating the rollout of eco-friendly cards in the European region. The Bank stated by 2025, all debit, credit and pre-paid cards across Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK will be made of sustainable materials, such as recycled PVC or corn-based plastic substitute.

António Simões, regional head of Europe at Banco Santander, said, “Reducing unnecessary use of plastics is a critically important step in the group’s transition to a green economy. By moving to eco cards, we are reducing our carbon footprint and supporting our ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions. This is a great example of what we can do by using the collective strength One Santander in Europe, leveraging our global scale and delivering a better service to customers.”

Santander is also adopting a new single, modern design for all debit, credit and pre-paid cards across Europe. The new cards, which include an eco logo, have a unique design for each customer segment for easier identification and include a notch at the bottom of the card to aid accessibility for the blind.

Recently, Santander announced the launch of a Savings and Investments calculator for enabling users to understand and compare returns on money in both cash savings and investments. The calculator allows users to select the amount of money they would like to save and the time period, in a bid to create a graphic showing the difference in potential returns between cash savings and investments.