Santander profits soar to €1bn

Spain’s Banco Santander posted a third-quarter profit of €1.06bn today – a near nine-fold increase from last year, when the government had forced it to take major provisions to cover soured real estate loans.

The largest bank by market value in the 17-country eurozone said profit in the July-September period rose from €122m a year earlier. Gross income dropped to €9.74bn from €10.71bn.

Santander president Emilio Botin said that, after years of making provisions for bad investments, the bank was now in a position to build profits.

For the first nine months, net profit jumped 77% to 3.3bn.

Shares rose 0.5% to €6.6 in morning trading in Madrid today.