Spanish banking giant Banco Santander today reported an 8.5% dip in 2010 net profits, hammered by the troubled economy and new rules forcing it to make hefty provisions for bad loans.
The biggest bank in the euro zone in terms of market value, Banco Santander said net profit dropped to €8.181 billion.
New Bank of Spain rules had obliged the 154-year-old institution to put aside a €487m precautionary reserve in the third quarter for loans that might not be recovered, it said. Without these new rules, net profit would still have slipped by only 3%, it said.
The results demonstrated Banco Santander's capacity to generate profits, which exceeded €8 billion for the fourth year in a row, the bank said in a statement.
'This consistency was achieved in the worst economic context in several decades and is due in large part to the geographical and business diversification of the group,' the bank added.
While suffering a 23% drop in net profit in continental Europe, the bank enjoyed a 25% profit surge in Latin America, a 31% leap in Brazil and an 11% gain in Britain. Net banking income rose 11.1% to €29.224 billion.
'We achieved results that again place us among the leaders of world banking,' Santander President Emilio Botin said. 'Banco Santander has had another excellent year,' he added.
Banco Santander has 90 million customers and 13,660 offices worldwide.
