That digital transformation who lives in financial entity have deep reflection increasing demand for workers with a technological profile. Spanish banks were already going through a digitization process before the pandemic hit, but with the arrival of the coronavirus the process has accelerated. In fact, half of the products contracted by its customers are carried out through digital channels and the use of electronic payments, such as mobile phones, has been consolidated. This led financial institutions to look for these workers to incorporate them into the workforce.

Banco Santander is currently seeking to fill 500 technology vacancies. Specifically, the entity chaired by Ana Botín offers 484 positions for technology workers, 165 of which are related to software engineers, 59 to infrastructure and systems workers and another 35 to technology project management. This offer is will unite 349 incorporations already done in the first six months of this year in functions such as Software Engineering, Cybersecurity, Compliance, Product & IT Management, among others.

From their bank confirmed it This is a highly demanded profession and profiles of this type are always sought after to combine entities. Regarding the workplace, the offer is at the group level, but most will be concentrated in Spain, with 234 bidsfollowed by Poland with 54, Mexico with 47, and England. Brazilwhere banks are also present, will look for 76 workers of this type.

It is precisely this increasing demand and the difficulty that financial institutions are finding in aggregating these profiles Banco Santander to propose a specific acquisition strategy for the technology profile program’Be Tech! with Santander’ in 2020which seeks to attract 1,000 professionals of this type in Spain and 3,000 worldwide, with the aim of accelerating the digital and technological transformation in which banks are immersed.

In 2019, Banco Santander announced that it will allocate more than 20,000 million euros for digital transformation and technology for the next four years. This commitment allows the number of customers using digital channels to exceed 50 million and 56% of the bank’s sales have been made via web or mobile.

Kutxabank, BBVA and Openbank are also looking for IT professionals

Santander isn’t the only entity eyeing IT professionals. Kutxabank announced this week what’s planned combined 94 workers, of which less than 50% will be associated with new technologies. However, the bank from Basque confirmed it by the end of the year it will incorporate workers with a more technological profile. Kutxabank has clarified that its aim is to drive digital upgrades and that it is included in its ‘Plan Acelera’ project, which will dedicate an additional 30 million to offer first-line digital solutions to its customers.

For his part, BBVAwhich has also invested heavily in banking digitization (which will allow it to attract more than 500,000 customers through these channels by 2022) recently announced it is seeking close to 3,000 employees at group level (2,600), among them1,000 will be rented in Spain. For this reason, his party has also created a job vacancy portal. “The profiles we need most for Engineering are ‘software’ developers and data engineers, followed by specialists in security, infrastructure and architecture”, explains Pedro J. Méndez, the entity’s global head of Talent and Culture.

Similarly, and given the difficulties in attracting these talents, the bank will provide 2,000 euros to each employee who nominates a candidate and is eventually hired. A strategy that has already been implemented openbank, a digital subsidiary of Banco Santander. Although in this case it is the customer who can win up to 10,000 euros, at a rate of 1,000 euros per candidate, if these professionals end up joining the entity. To be precise, the bank’s sources indicated that the campaign worked wonders for them, so much so that they received thousands of resumes. A process that has made positioning possible entity as a technology benchmark.