Mencía Bobo, global head of Global Transaction Banking at Santander CIB—winner of the Regional Supply Chain Finance award for Latin America—explains how bank-owned inventory, business intelligence, and a unified trade platform are driving double-digit growth and redefining global transaction banking.
Global Finance: Santander recently launched Invensa, in partnership with Pemberton, to address inventory finance. Why did the bank decide to leap into owning physical inventory for clients?
Mencía Bobo: Santander launched Invensa to help clients navigate increasingly dynamic and disrupted supply chains. Many need to secure materials quickly or in bulk while avoiding balance-sheet impact. Invensa enables us to hold inventory on their behalf, giving them greater flexibility, continuity, and protection when purchase opportunities arise. This goes beyond traditional reverse factoring, requiring closer operational involvement and specialised risk management. Our partnership with Pemberton enhances this capability, ensuring clients benefit from a resilient, efficient—and scalable inventory solution tailored to their evolving needs.
GF: With the launch of Navigator Global, you’re moving beyond just financing into providing intelligence and connections. Is the goal to become a trade consultancy rather than just a credit provider?
Bobo: Our ambition is not to become a consultancy, but to evolve into a true trusted advisor for our clients. For SMEs, Navigator Global opens doors to new markets, provides actionable insights, and helps them scale their international business with confidence. For CIB clients, we complement financing with strategic trade-focused advice in critical situations, such as acquisitions, leverage decisions, and complex supply-chain redesigns. By combining intelligence, connectivity, and capital, we enable clients to make better decisions and capture opportunities in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
GF: You’ve been rolling out a unified global trade and working capital platform across Europe and Latin America. What is the day-to-day benefit for a multinational treasurer who previously managed separate SCF programs in Mexico, Brazil, and Spain?
Bobo: By consolidating multiple local SCF programs into a single global platform, Santander enables treasurers to manage working capital at scale. Day to day, this means fewer systems, fewer reconciliations, and one consistent operating model across Mexico, Brazil, Spain, and more than 60 countries globally. Standardized workflows and reporting reduce friction, accelerate supplier onboarding, and simplify program expansion. The result is greater efficiency, better visibility, and the ability to quickly adapt working capital strategies.
GF: Santander CIB is the dominant trade bank in Latin America. With near-shoring driving a massive shift of manufacturing from Asia to Mexico, how is Santander’s trade volume in the US-Mexico corridor changing?
Bobo: Santander is seeing real-time, double-digit growth in trade volumes in the US–Mexico corridor, consistently outperforming regional trade growth. Near-shoring is driving a shift toward intermediate goods, automotive, electronics, and industrial components, with shorter, more frequent, and time-sensitive supply chains. This is increasing demand for structured trade, supply chain finance, and working capital solutions rather than basic documentary trade. The growth reflects deeper US–Mexico integration, with Santander often acting as the lead bank on both sides of the border.
GF: New disclosure requirements regarding reverse factoring as debt have made some CFOs nervous. Has there been a shift toward receivables purchase programs because of this?
Bobo: We haven’t seen a clear or systemic shift toward receivables purchase programs because of the new disclosure requirements. Increased transparency around reverse factoring has been a healthy and constructive development for the market, improving investor and analyst understanding of supplier finance arrangements without triggering reclassification. In practice, companies continue to use reverse factoring primarily as a working capital and supplier support tool. Decisions to adopt alternative structures remain driven by commercial and operational considerations rather than a regulatory optic.
