Santander boost from B&B

SANTANDER- which earlier this year agreed to buy Bradford & Bingley’s £20bn savings business and branch network for £612m – announced a profits boost today as it concentrates on the Spanish and Latin American markets.

Spain’s biggest bank reported a 5.5% rise in net profit for the first nine months to September – underpinned by robust recurrent earnings from its core retail banking business.

In a third quarter earnings statement, Santander said net profit came in at around £5.51bn ($8.63bn) despite “a very difficult economic and financial backdrop.”

Santander said it had added about £83.4bn ($130bn) of deposits to its books after acquiring Sovereign Bancorp in the US and Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley in the UK.

Growth continues to focus on deposits, which increased 11% on a like-for-like basis and 20% following the acquisition of Bradford & Bingley’s deposits.

Following the acquisitions, Santander said it now has a market share of 10% of deposits and 13% of mortgages in the UK.

Bad loans ratio at Santander rose to 1.63% in September from 1.34% end of June.