Santander Taps MoffettNathanson for Deepened TMT Equity Research Alliance

Santander’s alliance with MoffettNathanson signifies a deliberate acceleration of its U.S. equity research strategy—particularly in sectors with high technological disruption. The TMT focus adds a layer of intellectual capital, enabling Santander to offer differentiated insights, not only for U.S. clients but also globally, especially across Europe and Latin America, where the bank already maintains strong coverage. [1][2]

From a competitive positioning standpoint, this fills a gap in Santander’s research portfolio. Its other alliances already span retail/consumer, industrials/materials, and healthcare, but TMT is often volatile, rapidly evolving, and central to many institutional investment mandates. By aligning with a specialized boutique well-known in the TMT space, Santander avoids building a full standalone TMT research team in-house, instead combining scalability with depth. [3][1]

For MoffettNathanson, the strategic benefit lies in amplification: Santander provides cross-border distribution, capital markets infrastructure, and sales reach. This likely increases the firm’s subscription base among institutional investors, improves access to IPOs, equity capital markets flows, and potentially elevates its pricing power. The partnering bank gains both prestige (via having top boutique partners) and practical dividend in stronger content pipelines. [1][2]

Strategically, this reflects a broader industry pattern: major global banks are increasingly entering into alliances with independent research boutiques rather than simply scaling internal research. Reasons include compliance/regulatory pressures (especially research unbundling), demand for sector specialization, and the agility boutiques have in following fast-moving tech, media, and telecom trends. For Santander, this allows risk mitigation, cost efficiencies, and potentially faster go-to-market with insights. [6][3]

Open questions include whether these alliances will lead to exclusive content sharing, whether MoffettNathanson analysts will be integrated into actionable investment banking advisory mandates, and how Santander’s equity capital markets (ECM) revenue could benefit sustainably. Additionally, how Santander manages potential conflicts of interest—ensuring boutique independence while leveraging commercial synergies—will be under watch.