STD Banco Santander, S.A. Sponsored Adr (Spain)

BANCO SANTANDER

Profit Edges Higher, Beating Estimates

Banco Santander SA said third-quarter net profit inched higher, as its business in Brazil benefited from a brightening outlook for the economy and currency, while the slump in the British pound knocked down returns from its U.K. unit.

Net profit rose less than 1% to EUR1.70 billion ($1.85 billion) from EUR1.68 billion a year earlier. That beat analysts' estimates of EUR1.55 billion, according to a poll by data provider FactSet. Santander shares rose 0.4% in Madrid.

The bank, run by Executive Chairman Ana Botín, said net interest income fell 2.4% to EUR7.80 billion from EUR7.98 billion a year earlier, also better than analysts' estimates. "The low-interest-rate environment within developed economies remains a challenge for parts of our business, " Ms. Botín said. "Latin American and consumer-finance franchises [are] growing particularly well," she said.

Santander increased its capital ratio slightly to 10.47% as of Sept. 30, under international regulations known as "fully loaded" Basel III criteria. The bank reiterated it was on track to reach a capital ratio of 11% in 2018, a level that would be below those of its peers.

--Jeannette Neumann

LLOYDS BANKING

Net Falls, Hurt by Insurance Set-Aside

Lloyds Banking Group PLC set aside GBP1 billion ($1.22 billion) more in the third quarter to compensate customers who were sold insurance products they didn't need, taking a big bite out of profit.

The U.K.'s biggest retail lender by assets said its after-tax profit fell 68% to GBP219 million from a year earlier. Revenue rose 1% to GBP4.28 billion. Lloyds shares rose 1% in London.

Lloyds has set aside more than GBP17 billion to compensate customers who were wrongly sold payment-protection insurance. The insurance was widely sold alongside financial products, including loans and credit cards, to cover customers' repayments should they fall sick or lose their job.

Chief Financial Officer George Culmer said the amount announced Wednesday is the last big payment-protection provision Lloyds expects to take.

U.K. regulators have proposed a 2019 deadline for claiming compensation, later than Lloyds thought.

The bank also bolstered its capital cushion by reclassifying GBP20 billion of U.K. government bonds on its balance sheet as available for sale, as opposed to holding them to maturity.

--Max Colchester

NASDAQ

Earnings Decline On Lower Volume

Nasdaq Inc. said its quarterly profit declined, hurt by lower volatility and trading volumes, while acquisitions helped spur an increase in revenue.

Earnings dropped to $131 million, or 77 cents a share, from $138 million, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring- and acquisition-related charges and other items, per-share earnings rose to 91 cents. Revenue increased to 11% to $585 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit of 90 cents on revenue of $586.2 million. Nasdaq shares fell 2.5%.

Nasdaq has transformed itself from a U.S.-focused exchange operator to a global business-services company that includes markets in the U.S., Canada and Nordic region, as well as investor, public-relations, technology and data services. This year it closed deals to buy Chi-X Canada, an alternative trading system for the Toronto Stock Exchange, and news-release distributor Marketwired. In May, it bought board portal-systems provider Boardvantage for $200 million and in June it bought options-exchange operator International Securities Exchange for $1.1 billion. Acquisitions added $58 million to revenue.

--Austen Hufford

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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