DALLAS — Santander Consumer USA is quickly ramping up its market penetration in the U.S., especially in used-vehicle auto loans. In addition to originations, the company has been quietly buying up auto loan portfolios and making servicing deals and origination deals with such companies as Chrysler, Triad Financial, CarMax, HSBC and in the most recent multibillion-dollar deal, CitiFinancial Auto.

On Thursday, Santander announced it will purchase $3.2 billion of CitiFinancial Auto's loan portfolio. Moreover, the U.S. affiliate of Banco Santander has also agreed to service a portfolio of approximately $7.2 billion of auto loans that will be held onto by Citi.

The $3.2 billion portfolio purchase will be at a price equal to 99 percent of the value of the gross receivables, Santander noted. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter. It is subject to normal regulatory approvals and usual closing conditions.

Auto Remarketing reached out to Santander for comment and insight on the latest deal, specifically to find out more about how the acquisition and servicing agreement will impact the remarketing side of the company's business; however, a spokesperson responded that she cannot comment at this time. Once the deal is closed, more information will likely be available.

In the most recent Experian Automotive trends, the company listed Santander on both the top 20 market share lender list and as a top used-vehicle lender.

Experian's list of the top 20 lenders by market share as of the first quarter includes:

Chase: 6.9 percent

Wells Fargo: 5.4 percent

Toyota: 5.3 percent

GMAC: 5.1 percent

Ford: 3.7 percent

Honda: 3.3 percent

Bank of America: 1.8 percent

Nissan/Infiniti: 1.7 percent

Capital One: 1.6 percent

Fifth Third Bank: 1.3 percent

US Bank: 1.3 percent

Santander: 1.2 percent

BMW Bank: 1.2 percent

Huntington National: 1.0 percent

Credit Acceptance: 0.9 percent

Suntrust Bank: 0.9 percent

AmeriCredit: 0.9 percent

USAA: 0.8 percent

BB&T: 0.8 percent

Citizens Auto: 0.8 percent

Moving on, top used-vehicle lenders include:

Wells Fargo: 6.2 percent

Chase: 4.7 percent

Toyota: 2.6 percent

GMAC: 2.1 percent

Capital One: 1.8 percent

Santander: 1.6 percent

Credit Acceptance: 1.3 percent

Bank of America: 1.2 percent

US Bank: 1.2 percent

Fifth Third Bank: 1.1 percent

Ford: 1.0 percent

CarMax: 1.0 percent

BMW Bank: 1.0 percent

AmeriCredit: 1.0 percent

Huntington National: 0.9 percent

Honda: 0.9 percent

USAA: 0.8 percent

Westlake Financial: 0.7 percent

BB&T: 0.7 percent

Navy FCU: 0.6 percent

According to Santander officials, "The purchase supports Santander Consumer USA's strategy to explore partnerships and transactions that complement the company's existing business model and provide incremental benefits from a service and growth perspective.

"Santander continues to be committed to originating and servicing indirect and direct auto loans that meet Banco Santander's strict standards related to prudent underwriting and risk mitigation," officials added.

Citi indicated that the sale to Santander is consistent with its strategy to reduce the assets and businesses within Citi Holdings, its portfolio of non-core operating businesses and assets in an "economically rational manner while working to generate long-term profitability and growth from Citigroup."

"Citi continues to make progress on its strategy and will continue to pursue opportunities to divest Citi Holdings assets in a manner that creates the most value for shareholders. Upon competition, this transaction will reduce GAAP assets in Citi Holdings by approximately $3.2 billion," according to Citi officials.

Editor's Note: Brent Huisman, vice president of asset remarketing for Santander, will serve as a key speaker for the fall National Remarketing Conference. For more information, visit nrc.autoremarketing.com.