Growing market share boosts Santander profits

SPANISH banking giant Santander today said UK profits increased by more than 15 per cent after it lifted its share of the mortgage market to 20 per cent in the first three months of the year.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th Apr 2010, 10:32 BST

The lender, which completed the rebranding of its Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches in January, said the leap in trading profits to 426 million came as UK revenues rose by around eight per cent in the first quarter.

It now claims a fifth of UK gross mortgage lending, at 5.7 billion and up from 18 per cent in 2009 and 15 per cent in the first quarter of last year.

Net deposits soared by 240 per cent to 3 billion year-on-year across retail, corporate and private banking.

Santander, which is also rebranding the Alliance & Leicester chain this year, revealed net mortgage lending of 1.4 billion in the first quarter, up on the 800 million seen a year earlier. The figure, which includes repayments and redemptions, was down from 2.5 billion at the end of 2009.

In a further sign that borrowers remain under pressure, it has set aside more to cover bad debts - up eight per cent to 204 million compared with a year earlier.