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SANTANDER: CUSTOMISED VIRTUAL LEARNING SOLUTIONS

How Santander Bank leveraged Headspring’s online resources to create large scale solutions to train and keep over 16,000 staff compliant with new regulation.

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The Challenge

How Santander Met Compliance Goals with Customised Learning

Following the global financial crisis, the EU introduced new banking regulations (MiFID II) to ensure that financial advisers obtain appropriate levels of training and knowledge by 2018.

For financial institutions, the stakes were high. Employees that fail to comply in time would no longer be allowed to provide advice—a staple income for international banks such as Santander Spain.

“The time between the new law and the deadline given to the financial institutions for accrediting all the staff was too short”, said Jose Miguel Caras, the bank’s Learning & Development Director.

Harder still, there were few corporate learning providers capable of creating a bespoke, mass training programme at the required scale, speed and, crucially, quality.

Headspring was charged with creating a high-quality, certification-based programme for more than 10,000 directors of bank offices and employees of independent investment companies associated with the bank, throughout Spain and to get them through the exams by the regulators’ deadline.

The Solution

Meeting the Client Needs

Santander Spain has a huge number of staff advising and informing clients on a daily basis. “We needed to find a partner that could deliver on those economic and financial topics in an easy and clear way”, said Jose Miguel Caras, the bank’s Learning & Development Director. “We knew that Headspring’s online and distance learning methods placed them at the highest levels”

SOCIETY AT LARGE

Online & On-Demand

The program was designed to meet the bank's requirement for speed and flexibility
ACTIVIST INVESTOR

Large Scale

The program delivered high quality content to over 16,000 employees and associate agents
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS ESG

Customised

The program was designed exclusively for Santander, leveraging our finance expertise
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Accredited

The program was compliant and received formal accreditation by the relevant authorities
The Solution

A Rapid Response and Program Design

When it came to content, the Spanish financial regulators were exacting, with topics very specific to the financial industry.

Within a few weeks, the alliance was able to put together a 39-week programme covering seven modules from corporate finance to economics.

Throughout the modules, participants received a variety of guidance and technical manuals, video from the relevant professor, and some 50 multimedia documents including case studies, simulations, interactive graphics, and exercises, ending with self-testing multiple-choice quizzes.

These assets sat on a new online platform specially created to co-ordinate and guide participants through the project in a methodical and consistent way.

HEADSPRING’S METHODS AND EXPERTISE COMBINED WITH THE MAGNIFICENT FACULTY WERE THE MAIN REASON FOR CHOOSING THEM.
Jose Miguel Caras | Learning & Development Director | Santander Spain
DIVERSE WORKFORCE
The Solution

The Learning Experience

The learning materials were accessible at any time so participants could study at their own pace.

They were also grouped into smaller cohorts (of around 80), encouraged to progress through the programme together, and take the final MiFID II exam at the same time.

Participants were asked to commit four hours per week to the programme to understand the topics in sufficient depth, meet weekly objectives, and prepare for the final exam. Tutors were on hand to monitor progress, answer questions and give extra support to those who fell behind.

“With Headspring, we are constantly thinking about how we can help participants. This is something I experience every day and that I enjoy very much”, said Mr Caras.

The regulators also insisted that exams be taken in person, so it was necessary to bring in an exam logistics provider to co-ordinate tests in key locations across the country as and when participants were ready.

EASY TO STUDY, VERY WELL STRUCTURED, AND ORGANISED. ALL OF IT MATCHED OUR ORGANISATION’S CULTURE AND ETHOS. Jose Miguel Caras | Learning & Development director | Santander | Spain
The Impact

End-to-End Collaboration & Beyond

Although Headspring was initially asked to provide programme content, it wasn’t long before Spain’s financial regulators officially approved the specially-created programme.

This has allowed Headspring to provide its client with an end-to-end solution that includes certification renewal every two years and a more advanced examination.

The program has been so successful that it was nominated for the Learning Tehnologies Awards in the category for “Best use of learning technologies to ensure compliance – international”

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Next Steps

How we will work with you

Co-creation is one of the key principles of the Headspring approach. We don’t assume we have the answers – instead, we work with our clients to create and deliver a solution that meets its main goals and objectives. As part of this process, the next steps will include:

Connect

The first step is to connect with our corporate partnerships team. We will diagnose your needs and set a clear goal for your program.

Co-design

The second and most important step is to design a program that meets you business objectives and strategy in the short and long terms.

Bring to life

The third step is when we bring your program to life. Our team will be ready to ensure the plan is followed through and that objectives are met.

Measure impact

After the program, we will continue working with you to help you measure the results and the impact in your business.

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