Spanish Banco Santander makes 5.816-bln-euro profit in 2014

Spanish bank Banco Santander earned 5.816 billion euros (about 6.69 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, 39 percent more than a year earlier, the bank reported on Tuesday.

Loans increased by 5.0 percent on a year-on-year basis reaching 761.928 million euros, the bank said, marking the first time since the start of the economic crisis that profits increased in the banking group's 10 key markets.

Europe contributed 52 percent to Santander's profits, with Britain accounting for 19 percent and Spain for 14 percent. Latin America made up 38 percent, with Brazil and Mexico accounting for 19 percent and 8 percent respectively, while the United States added 10 percent to the bank's profits.

In Spain, attributable profit reached 1.121 billion euros, which meant a 141 percent increase when compared with a year earlier.

Loan loss provisions dropped by 14 percent to 10.562 million euros, the bank said. They fell by 46 percent in Britain, 18 percent in Brazil and by 28 percent in Spain, where loans increased by 2.0 percent in comparison with a year earlier.

Spanish banks are emerging from a financial crisis that began in 2008, which forced the government and the European Union to bail some banks out. Santander, the eurozone's biggest lender, was not one of them. Endit