Santander has entered the increasingly busy meeting point between banking, travel and mobile connectivity with the launch of Santander eSIM in Spain.

Developed with telecom technology company Gigs, the new service lets Santander customers buy and manage international mobile data from inside the bank’s app. Coverage extends to more than 160 countries, while Portugal and Mexico are expected to follow Spain as the first expansion markets.

This is not Santander becoming a mobile operator in the traditional sense. It is a bank using embedded connectivity to add a travel service at the moment its customers are already thinking about foreign spending, exchange rates and card use abroad.

One eSIM, multiple trips

Customers can choose packages of 3GB, 5GB, 10GB, 20GB or 50GB for destinations including the United States, United Kingdom, Morocco, Turkey, Japan, Brazil and Thailand. The eSIM only needs to be installed once; users can then buy additional plans for future trips without downloading a new profile each time.

Plan purchasing, top-ups and real-time data monitoring are handled through the Santander app. That matters because travel eSIMs are often simple to buy but less elegant to manage. Confirmation emails, QR codes, installation instructions and separate provider apps can turn a supposedly frictionless product into another travel administration task.

READ MORE: Gigs and the Rise of Embedded Connectivity Platforms

Santander is trying to remove that detour. Customers remain inside an app they already use and trust, with payment and account access already established. Gigs supplies the connectivity infrastructure behind the experience and enables brands to sell eSIM services under their own name and pricing. Its platform is built specifically for businesses that want to embed connectivity without developing the entire telecom layer themselves.

“Banking and mobile are converging, and we’re proud to be powering it,”

Gigs said in its launch message.

Convenience is clear; value is less clear

Santander presents the service as a more convenient and economical alternative to traditional roaming, particularly outside the European Union. The convenience argument is strong. The pricing argument cannot yet be judged as easily.

The bank’s announcement lists the available data allowances and example destinations but does not publish destination-level prices, plan validity, supported networks, expected speeds, hotspot rules or any fair-use restrictions. Those details will presumably appear in the app before purchase, but public pricing would make the offer easier to compare with mobile operator passes and specialist travel eSIM providers.

READ MORE: Revolut’s eSIM Strategy Is Bigger Than Travel Data

The service also appears focused on mobile data. Travelers who need a local phone number, conventional voice calls or SMS should check the plan details carefully rather than assuming those features are included.

It will not be equally useful for everyone. Many customers travelling within the EU and European Economic Area already receive regulated roaming through their domestic mobile plan. Others may have premium operator packages that include international data. In those cases, installing another eSIM could add complexity rather than remove it.

Banks want a larger role in the trip

Santander is not the first financial brand to connect banking and mobile data. Revolut launched an in-app travel eSIM in 2024, allowing customers to install one profile and buy data for more than 100 countries.

Nubank offers eligible Ultravioleta customers a 10GB international eSIM benefit covering more than 150 countries, while Starling launched Gigs-powered travel plans in July 2026 with coverage across more than 130 countries.

N26 has moved even further. After introducing travel eSIM services, it launched full local mobile plans in Spain in June 2026 through 1GLOBAL and Orange’s 5G network. That is a different product from Santander’s travel-focused offer, but it shows how quickly the boundary between financial apps and telecom services is changing.

READ MORE: eSIM Revenue Models for Airlines, Banks and OTAs

The attraction for banks is straightforward. Travel connectivity is closely linked to other high-engagement services: foreign exchange, card spending, insurance, airport benefits and travel bookings. Adding an eSIM can increase app usage, create ancillary revenue and give customers one fewer reason to leave the bank’s ecosystem.

For Gigs, Santander is an important distribution win. The company is positioning telecom infrastructure as something any major consumer platform can embed, much as payments or insurance have been embedded into non-financial apps.

Conclusion

Santander eSIM is useful not because the travel eSIM itself is radically new, but because of where it is being sold. A large bank can place connectivity in front of customers at precisely the moment they are preparing to spend abroad.

However, distribution alone will not guarantee a strong product. Revolut, Starling, Nubank, N26 and specialist eSIM providers are already training travelers to compare coverage, price, validity and included benefits.

Santander’s next step should therefore be greater transparency and a clearer reason to choose its plans beyond convenience—whether through preferential customer pricing, bundled data, rewards or stronger integration with its wider travel and banking services.

The bigger trend is no longer simply banks adding eSIMs. It is banks competing to own more of the travel journey. Santander has joined that race with significant reach; the real test will be whether customers see its eSIM as a genuine banking benefit or merely another data plan available from another app.