Banco Santander SA (SAN) Net income Drops second-quarter 2011

Banco Santander SA (SAN) Net income Drops second-quarter 2011 : Banco Santander SA (SAN), Spain’s biggest bank, said second-quarter profit fell 38 percent as loan losses rose in Spain and Brazil and the company set aside money to compensate U.K. customers mis-sold mortgage-loan insurance.

Net income dropped to 1.39 billion euros ($2 billion) from 2.23 billion euros a year earlier, the Santander, Spain-based bank said in a filing to regulators today. Earnings missed the 2.05 billion-euro average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg as the lender set aside 620 million euros to cover future U.K. loan-protection claims.

Santander fell as much as 3.6 percent in Madrid trading after a decline in profit in its three main markets -- Brazil, the U.K. and Spain -- led the bank to report the lowest quarterly result since 2005. An unexpected surge in loan impairments in Brazil on top of the increase analysts had foreseen in Spain means the bank’s earnings outlook will probably “remain under pressure”

“It’s disappointing that the results don’t just reflect Spain and its problems but other markets as well,” said Peter Braendle, who holds a “small amount” of Santander shares as part of the 57 billion Swiss francs ($71.3 billion) he helps manage at Swisscanto Asset Management in Zurich. “It was a big surprise that profit in Brazil also fell.” (source Bloomberg )

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