Santander will anticipate in one year its datacenter
Correio Popular
Santander bank will anticipate for 2014 the inauguration of its datacenter which is being built in Campinas at the High Technological Pole II - Ciatec 2. The global CEO for the bank, Emílio Botin has informed yesterday that the unit initially forecasted for 2015 will be inaugurated next year. According to him, Santander will expand its investments in Brazil in the coming years – and such fact is an indication that the bank has no intention to sell its assets in Brazil. Some months ago, it has been circulating some news into the market that Bradesco would be purchasing the group’s assets in the country. Botin has said to Agência Brasil after a meeting held with President Dilma Rousseff (PT) that he expects a 3% growth in the country’s economy for this year.
Since 2010, when the project was approved, the bank has been investing a total amount of R$ 450 million (US$ 219.5 million) to expand its two data processing centers. The group has acquired a total of 1 million sqm of area at the Ciatec’s Park 2, and 80% will be destined to compose the linear park to which it will be added a leisure place for the community. The remaining 20% will be used to construct two datacenters 500 meters away from each other plus operational units where it will be working 2 thousand employees – much of them transferred from other data processing centers of the bank, especially from São Paulo. The bank has 35 branches in Campinas with 124 thousand natural person clients and 7 thousand legal entities, and it foresees to open other 10 until 2013. All around the world, the bank has 13 thousand branches, 170 thousand employees, 92 million clients and more than 3 million stockholders.
The beginning of the operation of the data processing Center is long-awaited by the City Hall – according to estimates performed by the Treasury Secretariat in 2010 when the design of the installation for the unit was approved, it will represent an increase of about R$ 27.1 billion (US$ 13.2 billion), at least 1.5% to the Campinas’ Gross Domestic Product. The City Hall believes that such undertaking will generate R$ 390 million (US$ 190.2 million) in wealthy added to assets and services produced by the bank. Only with the wages to be paid, Santander shall be increasing the consumption in Campinas in R$ 222.3 million (US$ 108.4 million).
According to calculations made on that occasion, along the first ten years, the bank will pay R$ 53.5 million (US$ 26.1 million) in taxes; afterwards, the tax expenditure will increase to R$ 8.3 million (US$ 4 million) per year. Only with the building permit, the bank has already paid the amount of R$ 600 thousand (US$ 292.7 thousand). It is estimated that the expenditures with water, electricity and telephone will increase the collection of the State Tax over Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) in R$ 1 million (US$ 487.8 thousand) per year. Santander will be the highest IPTU tax payer in the city, and it will be collecting about R$ 5.5 million (US$ 2.7 million) per year. Among the interventions which are being performed in the area, it will be included the restoration of the house that was the headquarters of Sítio Martino – former occupant of the space where Santander will be installed.
The architecture of the undertaking is unique: both datacenters will be half-underground and every earth will be re-used at that same land to form ramps around the buildings. The datacenters will have a green ceiling slab – modular plates with perennial vegetation thus creating an environmental friendly protection. The architecture was designed to have solar heating. The emergence power generation systems will be powered by lead-free batteries, and the equipments will assure moderate power consumption to the cooling system and in the controlling of servers. The offices will be surrounded by glass blocks integrating the environments to the external landscape. They are similar to a filtered greenhouse, lake, and covered walkways.
The bank will apply R$ 5 billion (US$ 2.4 billion) in the infrastructure
After a meeting held with President Dilma Rousseff at Palácio do Planalto, Botin has said that he is committed to make available to the government up to R$ 5 billion (US$ 2.4 billion) for large infrastructure projects. From this year on, the bank shall be involved in funding works of major importance, such as the construction and refurbishing of ports, airports, and roads. Santander will address the mentioned amount to the winning companies of contracts with the government in future bids.
Still according to Botin, the amount of credit available this year for the bank’s clients shall be R$ 250 billion (US$ 122 billion) added to R$ 3 billion (US$ 1.46 billion) to be invested in branches and in the expansion of devices to provide services to clients. Botin was gathered earlier with the Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, with whom he was discussing a partnership with federal universities and to whom he has said that he will be developing a plan to foster the knowledge of the Spanish language among college students.