Spain's Santander, the euro zone's largest bank, said today that net profit fell 4.5 per cent in the first half, beating analysts' forecasts as the rate of growth in bad loans slowed.
Net profit fell to €4.519 billion euros compared with a Reuters forecast for €4.337 billion.
Net interest income -- the difference between interest earned on loans and that paid on deposits -- rose 24.2 per cent to €12.656 billion, below forecasts for €12.802 billion.
The bad loan rate reached 2.82 per cent at end-June, up from 2.49 per cent at end-March.
READ MORE
Provisions rose 60.6 per cent in the first-half from a year ago due to the worsening economic environment, but rose 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter as the rate of bad loans growth slowed.
Reuters