Madrid (AFP) – Spanish banking giant Banco Santander on Wednesday posted a 36 percent jump in its third quarter net profit, boosted by a healthy performance in its domestic market and Brazil.
The eurozone’s largest bank by market capitalisation said earnings jumped to 1.99 billion euros ($2.26 billion) in the August to September period, slightly higher than forecasts by analysts polled by financial information firm Factset at around 1.93 billion euros.
“In Brazil, Mexico and Spain we are building on the strong momentum we have generated in recent quarters, while in the UK performance is improving quarter-on-quarter, despite the ongoing uncertainties and headwinds,” Santander executive chairwoman Ana Botin said in a statement.
In Brazil, where Santander generates more than a quarter of its income, attributable profit rose to 663 million in the third quarter from 569 million euros in the same year-ago period, helped by a rise in loans as the economy picked up and an increase in customer funds.
After growing one percent last year, Brazil, the world’s eighth-largest economy, is forecast to grow about 1.4 percent this year.
In Spain, its second-biggest market, Santander’s attributable net profit nearly tripled to 526 million euros in the third quarter of 2018 from 184 million euros in the same time last year as “new lending in consumer credit and mortgage loans continued to grow”.
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