Oviedo, March 13, 2022.
Banco Santander has today inaugurated its new urban Work Café in Oviedo, specifically on Calle Pelayo, 4. The space is almost 700 square meters, spread over two floors and 5 meeting rooms, a co-working area and a cafeteria with two baristas. The office will be managed by a team of 8 people. The Territory of Cantabria and Asturias has four Work Cafes: one in Santander in the city centre, 2 University Work Cafes, one each in Santander and Oviedo, and one which opened today on one of Oviedo’s most commercial streets.

With this opening, there are now 85 bank-owned Work Cafes across Spain, 59 of which are located on university campuses and 26 in city centres. Work Cafes in Spain already have more than 285,000 active customers and receive an average of 180 visits daily.

Manuel Iturbe, territorial director of Banco Santander in Cantabria and Asturiashas shown its satisfaction at the inauguration of the first Urban Work Café in Oviedo, “These spaces become alternative channels from conventional branches and digital channels, so that each user can choose how, where and when they want to interact with the bank. We want our customers and non-customers to have a unique experience when they enter the Work Café. Its implementation reflects the bank’s commitment to an innovative distribution model, with unique spaces for customers and non-customers, which integrates banking, co-work and dedicated cafeterias and which is based on a physical-digital pair. In addition, we add value to our clients with events for startups, businesses, SMEs and enterprises, as well as other groups, such as seniors or young students.”.

As such, Banco Santander is committed to creating spaces that respond, every time more appropriately and efficiently, to the needs that arise from changing consumer habits and society at large, combining the provision of banking services, meeting rooms and co-working spaces in one place. and the finest specialty coffees, to address the demands of consumers who are more knowledgeable and demanding and more sensitive to the shopping experience.

Its success is based on a new office model that places human connection and closeness to clients at the center, in an environment of digitalization and innovation. The result is a space that is innovative, interactive, technological and modern. In this collaborative space, in addition to organizing talks, conferences and interest courses, each user can work, connect to the Internet, hold meetings and, of course, carry out the usual financial procedures.

Likewise, Work Café customers can start a direct conversation with their manager through the app, making phone contracts to save time. In addition, the urban Work Cafe has a 24×7 telephone service managed by a dedicated telephone team.

This new office concept was born in Chile in 2016 and is already present in ten countries where Grupo Santander has a presence: Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, England, Poland, USA, Jersey and Spain. The first office of its kind in Spain opened in 2018 in Madrid, at Plaza Sagrados Corazones. Currently, Grupo Santander already has 190 centers of this type worldwide and is continuing with plans for expansion.