Banco Santander 3Q Net Profit Falls

   By Marc Bisbal Arias 
 

Banco Santander (SAN.MC) said Thursday that its third-quarter net profit fell compared with a year earlier, despite net interest income increasing on year.

The company said net income was 1.46 billion euros ($1.73 billion), compared with EUR1.70 billion a year earlier. Net interest income, the difference between what banks earn from interest and the interests paid to lenders, was EUR8.68 billion, compared with EUR7.80 billion in the year-ago period.

The Spanish bank's fully-loaded common equity tier 1 ratio, a key measure of capital strength for banks, grew to 10.80% from 10.47% in the year-earlier period.

"Our business has delivered another solid quarter of results - with positive trends and further improvements in earnings quality across all of the markets in which we operate," Executive Chairman Ana Botin said.

Specifically, Ms. Botin said that Latin American franchises continued to perform well, showing growth in customer numbers and lending, as well as further improvements in credit quality. In Europe, the business also performed strongly despite market challenges in the region, she said.

"We see significant potential for further profitable growth across our business and remain confident that we will meet all commercial and financial targets, including delivering double digit EPS growth by 2018," she added.

Write to Marc Bisbal Arias at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2017 01:35 ET (05:35 GMT)

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