Santander: net profit collapses 82% on loan loss provisions

(CercleFinance.com) - Banco Santander said on Tuesday its first-quarter net profit fell 82% year-on-year, primarily due to provisions based on the deterioration in the macroeconomic situation arising from the Covid-19 crisis.


The Spanish bank said it booked provisions worth 1.6 billion euros in the quarter, based on an estimate of anticipated loan losses from the pandemic.

It is, however, still too early to know the full economic effects of the crisis or draw conclusions, it warned.

The euro zone's second largest bank by market capitalisation reported a net profit of 331 million euros in January to March.

Excluding net charges, the underlying attributable profit in the first quarter of 2020 was 2 billion euros, up 1% year-on-year and above the consensus, which prompted a 3% rise in the bank's share price this morning in Madrid.

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