Finance ops · Production

Santander Argentina processes COVID-19 emergency loans in two minutes with Blue Prism digital workers

The problem

The Argentinian government made emergency COVID-19 funding available for small businesses in 2020 with only 48 hours' notice to banks, forcing Santander to handle a surge from around 3,000 annual applications to 120,000 over three months without time to add enough human workers. A separate challenge also emerged when defaulting businesses triggered a time-consuming and highly detailed debt-transfer process that was virtually impossible to complete within the required timeframe.

Workflow diagram · grounded in source
1
Emergency applications flood bank
trigger
“the government gave the banks only 48 hours' notice of this new arrangement”
2
Digital workforce deployed in two days
integration
“because Santander maintains a library of 500 reusable objects, they were able to deploy a solution in two days”
3
Loan automated and funded in two minutes
ai_action
“With intelligent automation, they were able to automate loan funding with ease in just two minutes”
4
Debt default triggers transfer workflow
trigger
“Fogar, a third party, had guaranteed each of the loans and would allow Santander to transfer the debt to them”
5
Digital workers complete debt transfer paperwork
ai_action
“digital workers were perfectly positioned to compete all paperwork rapidly and accurately”
Reported outcome

Santander deployed a Blue Prism digital workforce solution in two days, processed loan applications in just two minutes each, and transferred up to 80% of bad debts — emerging as the only bank in Argentina able to respond on time and earning a strong reputation.

Reported metrics
Loan processing and funding timetwo minutes
COVID-19 loan applications processed120,000
COVID-19 application intake periodthree months
Normal annual loan application volume3,000
Show all 8 reported metrics
loan processing and funding timetwo minutes
COVID-19 loan applications processed120,000
COVID-19 application intake periodthree months
normal annual loan application volume3,000
solution deployment timetwo days
bad debts transferredup to 80%
reusable objects in automation library500
government notice period to banks48 hours
Reported stack
Blue Prism
Source
https://www.blueprism.com/resources/case-studies/santander-funds-loans-for-needy-businesses-in-two-minutes-with-intelligent-automation/
Read source ↗

Frequently asked questions

What did this team achieve with this AI workflow?

Santander deployed a Blue Prism digital workforce solution in two days, processed loan applications in just two minutes each, and transferred up to 80% of bad debts — emerging as the only bank in Argentina able to res…

What tools did this team use?

Blue Prism.

What results were reported?

Loan processing and funding time: two minutes; COVID-19 loan applications processed: 120,000; COVID-19 application intake period: three months; Normal annual loan application volume: 3,000 (source-reported, not independently verified).

How is this finance ops AI workflow structured?

Emergency applications flood bank → Digital workforce deployed in two days → Loan automated and funded in two minutes → Debt default triggers transfer workflow → Digital workers complete debt transfer paperwork.