Spain’s Banco Santander announced Thursday morning it has completed its $12.3 billion acquisition of Stamford-based Webster Bank, creating a significantly larger U.S. banking operation with a major presence in Connecticut.
Following the deal, Webster’s former Stamford headquarters will serve as one of Santander’s U.S. corporate hubs, alongside locations in Boston, New York, Miami and Dallas.
The combined company has approximately $327 billion in assets, $185 billion in loans and $172 billion in deposits, based on year-end 2025 balances.
The deal also officially kicks off a battle for Webster customers that has been brewing since the acquisition was announced in February.
Banks across Connecticut have been laying plans to carve off business from Webster — formerly the largest bank headquartered in the state. Smaller Connecticut banks see an opportunity in the disruption that often comes with major bank mergers and are betting some Webster customers could be receptive to a local alternative.
Santander and Webster leaders, however, said they hope to head off those efforts by taking a slow approach to the integration.
“I have to say we look forward to disappointing all of them,” Santander US President and CEO Christiana Riley said of competitors looking for an opening.
Webster will operate under its existing brand and technology for at least another year, but executives said the banks ultimately will consolidate under the Santander name.
Riley said the companies expect to combine the banks under a single technology platform and brand by the end of 2027.
John Ciulla — formerly Webster’s CEO and now CEO of Santander Bank N.A. — said customers should notice virtually no difference following the deal’s completion.
“On Monday, everybody who goes into their branch, any client is going to see the same branch and the same people involved,” Ciulla said.
One immediate change is expanded ATM access: Customers of both banks can now use Santander and Webster ATMs in the United States without paying a fee.
“We are fully conscious of limiting and managing limited customer disruption,” Riley added. “For the time being, we’re most excited about bringing these two banks together, consummating the transaction and customers of both banks will experience little to no impact as we move through this week.”
Job cuts on the table
While Santander executives are promising little immediate change for customers, the merger will eventually bring significant changes behind the scenes.
Santander has pledged $800 million in cost savings by 2028 through the combination of the two institutions. Riley said those savings will come in part from eventually moving the banks onto a single technology platform and eliminating duplicate back-office jobs.
She said she could not offer a ballpark estimate as to how many jobs will be cut.
Webster Financial employed about 4,500 full-time workers at the end of 2025, according to its annual report.
“It would be disingenuous to tell you that de-duplication won’t be without some job losses,” Riley said.
The savings are not based on branch closures or cuts to other customer-facing operations, she said.
Ciulla stressed that the reductions aren’t intended to fall disproportionately on Webster or Connecticut, noting that a “significant majority” of Webster’s senior leadership will remain. Cost savings will not be concentrated in one bank, region or business line, he said.
“This isn’t a sort of slash and burn of Webster,” Ciulla said. “It is a thoughtful and deliberate look at where we can best operate the company and best serve our clients.”
Webster moved its headquarters from its birthplace in Waterbury to Stamford following its 2022 merger with Sterling Bancorp but still maintains a regional office presence in the Brass City.
Ciulla said he has reassured Waterbury leaders that the bank intends to maintain a presence in the city, although he could not say definitively whether that will continue to include Webster’s former headquarters, a four-story concrete building that has dominated a corner of downtown Bank Street since 1978.
“I’ve had continued dialogue with the mayor and the rest of the delegation in Waterbury about making sure that we don’t abandon what is sort of Webster’s spiritual home, even though we moved the headquarters to Stamford a few years ago,” Ciulla said.
There are currently no plans to close major office locations in Connecticut, Ciulla said, but Santander has not completed its review of Webster’s properties, leaving open the possibility of future changes.
Riley emphasized Santander places a premium on the goodwill of its host communities.
“John and the team have done a wonderful job of building trust and deep relationships across communities in Connecticut, and that’s not something that we have any interest in squandering,” Riley said.
Filling the gap
The limited overlap between the banks’ existing branch networks is one reason executives believe the combination can avoid some of the disruption normally associated with bank mergers.
Santander already has a substantial branch network running from Philadelphia through the greater New York area, as well as from Rhode Island into the Boston area, Riley said.
Connecticut has been a missing piece. Webster had 195 branches at the end of 2025, with nearly half — 95 — in Connecticut. It also had 76 branches in New York, 17 in Massachusetts and seven in Rhode Island.
“We really had not been successful in penetrating Connecticut,” Riley said. “And this fills in a very attractive white space for us.”
Ciulla said Webster and Santander have paid particular attention to lessons from M&T Bank’s acquisition of Bridgeport-based People’s United Bank, which generated customer complaints following the banks’ technology conversion.
Webster completed its own merger with Sterling Bancorp shortly afterward and took steps to avoid similar problems, Ciulla said, including maintaining frequent contact with Connecticut’s attorney general during the conversion.
The Santander integration will be even more deliberate, he said, with Webster continuing to operate on its existing technology for an extended period.
“It’s about being very, very deliberate and purposeful in, yes, getting us onto one platform that ultimately benefits clients, customers, and our bank moving forward, but doing it at a pace that ensures that client disruption is minimal,” Ciulla said.
