Banco Santander earnings: results of 28 October 2026

Banco Santander's third quarter of 2026. Profit from its ongoing business, which the bank calls underlying profit, rose 19% on a year earlier to €3.8 billion. Its reported profit fell 2% to €3,432 million, because of €416 million of one-off charges, including the costs of absorbing two banks it bought, Britain's TSB and America's Webster. The bank kept all its targets for the year. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts, on average, expected earnings per share of $0.26 per US-listed share for the quarter, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar (2 estimates); the release reports in euros, so the two are not set side by side here. ¹²

The strong points

• Profit from the ongoing business rose 19% in the third quarter, faster than over the year so far. ¹
• Leaving out the two banks it bought, costs fell 1% over nine months while income kept growing. ¹
• With a new buyback of up to about €1.8 billion, Santander has now delivered about €9 billion of its plan to return at least €10 billion to shareholders by buying back shares. ¹

The weak points

• Money set aside for loans that may not be repaid rose 22% in the quarter, faster than total income at 12%. ¹
• After buying Webster, the bank's core capital cushion stood at 12.7%, just below the 12.8% to 13% it aims for at year-end. ¹

What the company expects

• Santander kept all its 2026 targets: revenue growth in the mid-single digits, lower costs, profit above €14.1 billion and a capital ratio of 12.8% to 13%, and says it is 'comfortably on track'. ¹
• The bank expects customer activity to keep lifting revenue, with fees growing faster than interest income, and revenue to keep growing faster than costs. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A strong report. Profit from the ongoing business grew 19% while costs were held down, and the bank kept all its targets for the year, with the soft spots being higher set-asides for bad loans, tied mainly to Argentina, and capital just short of its year-end goal.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)

Notes

1. Banco Santander's results release, 28 October 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 29 October 2026. ↩