As part of BANKSPHERE, Santander's multi-channel banking middleware platform, ILOG JRules will be used to automate decision-making and policy management across the entire organization, while enhancing business agility and shortening business response times.

Santander decided to adopt an SOA strategy to streamline its IT infrastructure from front to back-office, with the goals of continuously improving customer service and reducing costs. The objective was to have a single platform across all banks in the Group to standardize processes and create product factories (back-office systems able to process the products for various distribution channels - under different brands - or for different packages). By integrating ILOG JRules in their SOA infrastructure, Santander will maximize the re-usability and adaptability of its platform across all banks. Moreover, the use of rules will guarantee that the banks will be able to respond quickly to changes in regulations and market conditions.

In addition to the SOA initiative, Santander is already evaluating JRules for additional projects, including risk qualification, buying propensity and debt qualification, subscriptions, as well as the listing and selection of documents for a banking transaction.

"Santander considers IT a key component of its business strategy," said Maite Agujetas, Chief Architecture Officer at Santander. "We are confident that the implementation of ILOG JRules in BANKSPHERE will help us enhance our competitiveness by making a significant contribution towards harmonizing our IT infrastructure and ensuring we can react quickly to changing business conditions."