Santander has better results than expected, is scored a goal in Spain – Spain Investing.com

MADRID (Reuters) – Banco Santander (MC registered a decline of 4.9 percent in its net profit for the first quarter, weighed down by the weakness of the Brazilian real, although the result was above analysts’ estimates.

in a note securities regulator, the largest bank in the eurozone by market capitalization said the profit was 1,633 million euros compared to 1,503 million expected by analysts.

Brazil, which through its worst recession in decades, is about a fifth of the benefit of Santander and depreciation of currencies in this and other markets such as the UK, it hurt the bank’s accounts when converted to euros.

Without the effect of type exchange, profit would have risen 8 percent, said the bank in its press release.

Net interest income (the difference between what it charges for lending and financing costs) fell 5 , 2 percent to 7,624 million compared to 7,648 million euros estimated by analysts, while the margin before provisions stood at 5,572 million compared to 5,549 million expected.

in the bag the results were welcomed favorably and, at midmorning, shares of the company rose 2.45 percent in a slightly rising market.

ACCOUNT PAID iN SPAIN

Despite the ultra-low rate environment, the company decided to launch in Spain, its third-largest market after the United Kingdom and Brazil, a paid account called “account 1/2/3″ which already totals more than one million customers at the rate of 100,000 new accounts per month.

the company said the goal is to reach two million accounts at the end of 2016.

in the first three months of 2015, net interest income in Spain amounted to 1,243 million euros, up 9 percent below the margin recorded in the first quarter of 2015, but five percent higher quarter on quarter.

in early April, the bank announced a plan early retirement and voluntary redundancies to cut 1,660 jobs in the domestic market, equivalent to five percent of its workforce in Spain.

in terms of solvency levels, the bank said the ratio of core capital (in terms of Basel III fully loaded) stood at 10.27 percent compared to 10.05 percent in late December, but still below other leading financial institutions in Europe.

the Cantabrian bank said in his presentation that the results are in line with the objectives contained in the strategic plan to 2018, among which put the capital ratio of highest quality and in terms of Basel III above 11 percent.

(Reporting by Jesus Aguado and Robert Hetz, edited by Jose Elias Rodriguez)