IBOS member Banco Santander earned a profit of €3,605 million during the first half of 2017, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year.

The gains were driven by an increase in customer revenues, disciplined cost control, and further improvements in loan loss provisions. Santander remains well capitalised with Common Equity Tier 1 at an increased ratio of 10.72%.

This great success is also due to Banco Popular, which Santander acquired on 7 June 2017. The new addition contributed a further €11 million to the Group’s profit in the period to 30 June 2017, bringing total Group profit to €3,616 million during the first half of 2017.

Since June 2016, the company’s customer base has grown from 1.9 million to 16.3 million people. This shows how Santander has gained much more loyal customers, so they were able to increase lending and customer funds up by 1% and 8% respectively in constant euros over the same period. This was due to their strong initiatives.

Santander continues to expand as a company, as the bank’s digital based customers increased from four million to 23 million over the last 12 months. The progression in digital transformation, combined with strong cost discipline, allowed them to maintain its position as one of the most efficient banks in the world.

Markets in Chile, the United States, Argentina, and Portugal all increased due to strong growth in business volumes and ongoing cost control offsetting investment in commercial transformation.

Ana Botín, Executive Chairman of Santander, commented:

“We have continued to deliver on our commitments, creating strong profitable growth, and further improving the quality of our earnings throughout the Group. The business has seen positive trends across all markets with particularly strong growth in Latin America, further improvements in Spain, and robust performance in the UK despite the ongoing challenges.”

Due to Santander’s increased profits, the bank was able to maintain its position as one of the most profitable and efficient banks in the world.

Below are the financial highlights from Q2 2017, compared to Q2 2016:

In the standalone second quarter, the Group generated €1,749 million in attributable profit, up 37% compared to the same period last year.
Gross income, excluding Popular, increased by 11% to €23,939 million (+7% in constant euros), driven by strong growth in recurring customer revenues.
The acquisition of Popular was offset by the successful completion of a €7,072 million rights issue during July.
Santander was able to uphold their title as one of the most successful banks in the world.

Access the full release via Santander here.