Ebury, Santander’s International Payments Fintech, Secures C.£550 Million to Accelerate Growth and Global Expansion

WHY THIS MATTERS: The c.£550 million funding injection for Ebury, spearheaded by Santander and Centerbridge Partners, represents a critical consolidation in the cross-border payments landscape. As global trade becomes increasingly digitised, the traditional friction points of international commerce—currency volatility and settlement delays—are being aggressively targeted by established banking giants through strategic fintech subsidiaries. This capital commitment signals that major financial institutions are no longer merely experimenting with alternative rails; they are scaling them to serve as the primary engine for SME international expansion.

Crucially, Ebury’s focus on enhancing AI capabilities mirrors a broader industry shift toward agentic payment workflows. By moving beyond simple automation to intelligent, autonomous execution of foreign exchange and trade finance, providers are redefining the role of the treasurer. For the fintech sector, this deal underscores that long-term value is increasingly found at the intersection of traditional banking scale and agile, AI-native infrastructure, setting a new benchmark for how global platforms must evolve to remain competitive in a borderless digital economy.

Santander has agreed to participate in c.£550 million funding rounds for Ebury, its global fintech platform focused on cross-border payments and international trade solutions. The funding rounds are being made by a group comprising Centerbridge Partners alongside reinvesting existing shareholders Santander, Vitruvian Partners and 83North.

Santander will invest £50million and remainEbury’s majority shareholder with a 55% stake, reinforcing its long-term commitment and Ebury’s strategic role as the group’s SME cross-border payments platform and a key source of product innovation. The rounds will be executed in two separate transactions, subject to customary regulatory approvals. 

Ebury operates in 30 regulated markets and serves more than 27,000 businesses worldwide, enabling payments in over 140 currencies across 160 countries. Its technology-driven platform allows clients to make and receive international payments, manage foreign exchange risk,move funds between subsidiaries inrealtime and integrate with their financial systems. Ebury has grown its revenues over 30% per annum since Santanderinvested in 2020. 

The proceeds, including primary and secondary components, will be used to accelerate growth through product development and geographic expansion, with a focus on scaling the business and enhancing AI capabilities to improve payment processing, optimise foreign exchange solutions and enhance the overall customer experience. 

Ana Botín, executive chair of Banco Santander, said: “These transactions support both Ebury’s continued growth and Santander’s focus on disciplined capital allocation and value creation. The additional investments will enable Ebury to scale faster and enhance its offering to SMEs globally. The new partners also add significant strategic value, combining complementary expertise to accelerate growth and maximise the platform’s long-term potential.” 

Juan Lobato, Ebury’s CEO, said:“We are delighted to welcome Centerbridge as a newinvestor alongside our existing investors. We are also very pleased to continue our partnership with Santander, having demonstrated that by combining the strengths of a leading European bank with a fast-growing fintech, we can build a world-leading cross border payments platformfor businesses. These investments come at a pivotaltime, as the evolutionof digitalmoney infrastructure and agentic payment workflows will provide strong tailwinds and further accelerate our growth.” 

Following completion, Santander will account for its 55% stake using the equity method, resulting in the deconsolidation of Ebury’s revenues and costs from Santander’s reporting, with a negligible impact on the income statement. These rounds are expected to generate c.+4 basis points of CET1 at group level, subject to regulatory approval and completion,which is expected no laterthan the first quarter of 2027. 

All 2026–2028 targets, presented at Santander’s Investor Day in London on 25 February, remain unchanged. By 2028, Santander aims to exceed 210 million customers, deliver mid-single-digit revenue growth, and reduce total costs annually (not affected by removing Ebury’s cost base), resulting in profit of more than €20 billion and a return on tangible equity (RoTE) above 20%. Ebury is part of Santander’s Payments Solutions global business, which targets annual revenue growth of more than 15% over 2026–2028 (in constant euros and on a like-for-like basis) and an EBITDA margin of c.45% by 2028.

FF NEWS TAKE: Santander’s decision to maintain its 55% majority while introducing new strategic partners like Centerbridge proves that Ebury is no longer a peripheral experiment but a central pillar of its global payments strategy. By doubling down on AI and geographic scaling, Ebury is positioned to lead the transition from manual cross-border transactions to sophisticated agentic payment workflows. We expect this move to trigger a defensive response from competitors as the race to bank the machine economy accelerates.

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