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Santander’s £8.3bn profit despite Madoff investment
28.01.09
Santander, the Spanish bank that owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and the branch network of Bradford & Bingley, was today forced by a Madrid watchdog to rush out its 2008 profit figure.
Stock-market regulator CNMV asked the bank to release a provisional profit figure after it said it would compensate clients of its private wealth arm who lost money through Bernard Madoff's
$50 billion (£35 billion) Ponzi investment fraud.
Santander said profits last year rose 9% to €8.9 billion (£8.3 billion) despite a €500 million provision for its Optimal Strategic fund, which invested with Madoff. The dividend is 65.1 cents, the same as in 2007. Full results will be published next month.
Reader views (2)
mmm the old tough austere management style seems to be working for Santander... wish RBS would adopt a no frills no special Director's bonuses for mismanagement!
- Andrew Flacus, London , United Kingdom
Our taxpayers money, so freely given away by Herr Brown, (aka Mr I'm doing alright, but living in Self-Denial) is propping up the British end of the fabulously wealthy Spaniards, who in turn have ''milked'' the E.U. more than any other country, and we say ''Clever those Chinese'' ? I think we need to rethink who are the clever ones.
- Alan Digby, Whitby. North Yorks. U.K.
