Santander bank reports higher profits

Europe's biggest bank by capitalisation, Santander of Spain, on Thursday posted a 4.7 percent rise in third-quarter profit aided by a recovery in the Spanish economy.

The bank said net profit in the July-September period was 1.68 billion euros ($1.86 billion), in line with analysts' expectations of 1.7 billion euros, according to a survey by data provider FactSet.

Net interest income, the difference between what lenders pay clients for deposits and charge for loans, rose 6.8 percent to 7.98 billion euros.

During the first nine months of the year, profits grew by 17 percent to 5.1 billion euros.

"We view the economic situation as improving in the majority of our core markets," said Santander's executive chairman Ana Botin.

The Spanish economy, the eurozone's fourth largest, emerged in 2013 from five years of on-off recession and Madrid forecasts it will grow by 3.3 percent this year.

Santander said it registered profits during the first nine months of the year in the 10 core markets in which it operates, with the exception of Poland where profits decreased by 7.0 percent.

In Spain net profit jumped 64 percent to 883 million euros due to a rise in new lending and total customer deposits and a drop in bad loans.

In Britain, the bank's main market, net profit jumped 28 percent during the first nine months to 1.5 billion euros and rose by 22 percent in Brazil to 1.3 billion euros.