The Argentine subsidiary of Spain’s Santander (NYSE: STD) booked a 430mn-peso (US$111mn) net profit in last year’s fourth quarter, down 13% on 3Q09 due to lower gains from securities as well as higher provisions and expenses.
Santander Río posted a 16.2mn-peso profit in 4Q09 due to higher taxes and as the bank marked sovereign bonds to market, making them non-tax deductible.
The bank’s net interest income fell 11.6% quarter-on-quarter to 619mn pesos, with fee income growing 9.56% to 378mn pesos, the bank said in a press release.
Provisions for loan losses increased 45.6% to 96.7mn pesos in Q4, and administrative expenses grew 2.66% to 347mn pesos.
The bank’s loans to the private sector expanded by 2.47% to 13.7bn pesos in the year to end-December fueled by SME and consumer lending.
And as of December 31, Santander Río’s non-performing loan ratio for loans to the private sector deteriorated to 2.23% from 1.50% a year prior. <