Spain's two largest banks post profits

January 29, 2009

Spain's two largest banks post profits in 2008 despite crisis.

Santander and BBVA, posted strong stock market gains Wednesday after they reported healthy net profits for 2008 despite a sharp international economic slowdown.

Santander, the biggest Spanish bank, estimated its annual net profit for 2008 would be 8.87 billion euros (11.71 billion dollars), a 2.0 percent decline from the record profit of 9.03 billion euros it posted in 2007.

"The result is in line with our expectations and seeing that they did not have additional losses was good news," Fortis Bank analyst Diego Barron told AFP.

BBVA, Spain's second-largest bank, said its 2008 net profit fell 18.1 percent over the previous year to 5.02 billion euros, just below analysts' forecast of a full-year profit of 5.42 billion euros.

"We see 2009 with reasonable optimism because we have the sufficient means to sustain these results," BBVA chief executive officer Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri told a conference call with analysts.

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