finance_ops · finance · workflow
Santander Argentina processes COVID-19 emergency loans in two minutes with Blue Prism digital workers
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.
How it works
Common implementation structure
How this type of workflow is generally built, generalized across documented cases — not tied to any one vendor's stack. Click any stage to read what happens there. Specific products that implement these stages appear in “Tools commonly seen” below.
Stage 1 · Emergency applications flood bank
The Argentinian government announced emergency business funding on a first-come-first-serve basis, giving banks only 48 hours' notice and triggering an expected avalanche of applications.
Tools used
Blue Prism
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.
Results
Time savedtwo minutes
Volume120,000
Running since2020
Grounding & classification
Source type: vendor customer story
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