Santander has posted net income of €5.35bn
($7.03bn) for the 12 months to 31 December, down 34.6% from
the previous year.
In the fourth quarter, net income collapsed to
€47m from €2.1bn in the same period a year ago.
Group wide, total assets increased by 2.8% to
€1.25trn in fiscal 2011.
Notable highlights included:
- Net income at Santander’s US-based retail
unit, Sovereign, increased by 24% to €526m; - Net income soared at Santander Consumer
Finance, by 51.5% year-on-year to €1.23bn; - Profit held up at Santander’s Latin American
unit, inching down by only 1.4% to €4,67bn, and - Group wide, total deposits increased by 2.6%
to €632.5; total loans were up 3.6% to €750.1m.
Less notable metrics included a 160 basis
points increase in Santander’s cost-income ratio to 44.9%.
Net income fell sharply at Santander’s
UK-retail focused country unit, by 41/7% to €1.14bn.

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By GlobalDataElsewhere, profit collapsed at the Spain-based
Banesto retail unit (down by 69% to 130m) and by 62% to €174m at
Santander’s Portugal division.
Santander ended 2011 with a global branch
network of 14,756, an increase of 4,8% during the year having
opened a net 674 outlets.
Santander’s UK network shrank slightly in
2011, down by a net 37 outlets to 1,379 branches.
Santander’s total employee numbers increased
during 2011 by 8.1% to 193,349.