Credit markets strong at Santander but loan provisions hit profits

Santander's global wholesale banking division reported a decline in pre-tax profits of just under 2% year on year as the business increased its share of the bank’s attributable profit from 22% at the start of 2011 to 25% for the first three months of 2012. However, provisions for loan losses — more than 50% higher — caused the group’s pre-tax profits to fall 18% to €2.545bn for the quarter.