Spain’s Banco Santander has reported its net profits rose just by 4% over the first half of 2018 amounting to €3.75bn after recording a net charge of €300m for the integration of Banco Popular.
Santander had already announced that the costs of the operation – €900m – would be accounted between 2017 and 2019 for equally. It has caused the bank’s profit to fall by 3% between April and June.
Brazil, accounting for 26% of the group’s earnings, remains boosting to a great extent the bank’s results while mitigating the fall in benefits to double-digit rates in the UK and Spain.
Santander’s Brazilian subsidiary attracted €1.32bn net profits in H1 2018, representing a 6.4% increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
In Latin America the bank attracted some €2.21bn in net profits. Brazil was followed by Mexico – with €359m in net profits – and by Chile where it registered €308m.
