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Santander has struck a $12.2bn deal to buy US-based Webster Financial, which chair Ana Botín declared would give the Spanish bank the scale it needed to compete in all its markets.

The acquisition, announced on Tuesday, will vault Santander into the top-10 biggest retail and commercial banks by assets in the US, with a large presence across the north-east.

The deal marks the latest step in the reshaping of Santander, a sprawling global business and the EU’s most valuable bank, which is building an expanded presence in the Anglosphere.

Botín described the acquisition of Webster, which remains subject to regulatory approval, as a “historic step” in the same vein as a £2.65bn deal struck last year to acquire TSB, a UK high street bank.

The two deals mean Santander would now have the heft to compete profitably in the US and the UK as well as its other markets, she said. “We are where we want to be. We have the scale we need to have,” she told reporters.

Investors were less enthused as Santander’s depositary receipts closed 6.4 per cent lower in New York trading after the deal was announced. Botín attributed the drop to M&A arbitrage trading.

Santander is unusual among big European banks in expanding its US retail banking presence after retreats from the country by BNP Paribas and HSBC. The deal also comes amid a surge in dealmaking among regional banks in the US spurred by a favourable regulatory environment.

The transaction values Webster at $75 a share, with $48.75 in cash and the remainder in stock. Webster investors will receive just over two Santander American depositary receipt shares for each of their shares.

Webster was founded in 1935 in Connecticut, where it remains headquartered. It has more than $80bn in assets and serves individuals, families and businesses across consumer, commercial and healthcare financial services, primarily in the north-east US.

Botín said Webster’s presence in US commercial banking, where Santander is less strong, was one of its big attractions.

The reshaping of Santander began in May when it said it would pocket €6.8bn from selling stakes in its business in Poland to Vienna-based Erste Group. Two months later Santander announced it had won a battle to acquire TSB from Spanish peer Sabadell, a transaction that has yet to close.

Those deals received a broadly positive reception from investors with Santander’s share price rising by roughly 75 per cent since the announcement of the Poland sale, lifting its market value to about €150bn.

Botín said the Webster acquisition would be the end of the M&A run. “No more purchases. And we’re not thinking about selling anything either.”

In the US, bank mergers have gathered pace in the past year. Regional lenders have sought to take advantage of a favourable political climate and looser regulatory environment to gain scale and compete with some of the country’s largest banks.

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Santander brought forward the release of its results for the final quarter of 2025, which were due to be reported on Wednesday. It said it was posting record profits for the seventh consecutive quarter, with net income rising 7 per cent from a year ago to €3.8bn.

Growth in net interest income and fee income had more than offset a rise in personnel costs, Santander said.

The companies said the US deal was expected to close in the second half of the year, subject to regulatory approval in the EU and US. Christiana Riley, who leads Santander in the US, will remain the chief executive of Santander USA.

Santander said it was targeting a return on tangible equity in the US of about 18 per cent by 2028 as it expects the Webster deal to boost profitability and enable cost savings.

In 2025 Santander’s US business contributed €1.5bn to global net profit of €14.1bn, versus €1.3bn from the UK and €4.3bn from Spain.