Santander wins FICO award for AI-driven credit risk overhaul

Santander's US Auto business has been recognised with a 2025 FICO Decisions Award for its use of machine learning in credit risk analysis.

The company, which manages an asset portfolio valued at USD $60 billion and serves over three million customers, has adopted the FICO Platform to enhance its credit risk assessment processes. According to FICO, Santander's implementation of the platform has streamlined model development, improved governance, and bolstered predictive analytics in the face of evolving market conditions.

The FICO Decisions Awards are presented to organisations that demonstrate success using FICO's solutions, with nominations assessed on measurable improvements, best practice adoption, project scope and depth, and the use of technology. This year, Santander Consumer USA was awarded in the category covering Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Optimisation.

Explaining the rationale behind Santander's move, the company cited the impact of rising interest rates and increased vehicle prices on affordability as drivers for adopting a more agile risk assessment framework. Previously, legacy tools required manual recalibrations, resulting in delayed credit analysis and a diminished ability to respond promptly to market fluctuations.

"The FICO team has been instrumental in enabling the Auto business to use a unified platform to be more efficient and accelerate our timelines. FICO helped our modelling team reduce the number of tasks, allowing for our data team to focus on interpreting the analytics," Bruce Jackson, Head of the Santander US Auto Business and Chief Executive of Santander Consumer, said.

By using the FICO Platform, Santander is able to support consumer credit risk in three main areas: approval or decline of credit applicants, assignment of adverse action, and assessment of default probability for pricing models. This enables Santander to increase the number of applications assessed for auto loans. The platform also facilitates the deployment of machine learning and advanced analytics, allowing the business to introduce new predictive models and adapt decision strategies to shifting customer and market requirements.

"Santander's adoption of machine learning is an example of how lenders can modernise credit risk analysis. Building a model more efficiently is imperative in today's competitive market. Santander's success in streamlining processes, reducing manual efforts, and gaining real-time insights into credit risk sets a strong benchmark for the industry," Nikhil Behl, President of Software at FICO, commented.

"What impressed me was how Santander transformed a slow, manual process into a seamless, real-time system. It didn't just tweak its risk models—Santander overhauled how it makes decisions, making them faster, smarter, and more reliable," Joe McKendrick, an analyst and senior contributor at Forbes as well as one of the FICO Decision Awards judges, said.

Santander's adoption of the FICO Platform comes as lenders across the industry seek to enhance resilience in their lending processes, particularly amidst changing economic conditions. The company's implementation is noted for its ability to reduce development times by establishing an analytical framework with reusable and efficient systems.

The award highlights Santander's use of technology to respond to market challenges and deliver a wider range of financing solutions across diverse credit profiles. The recognition arises from assessments made by a panel of independent judges from the banking, technology, and financial sectors.