(Reuters) – Quarterly reports from some of Europe’s top banks showed the scars of the euro zone
crisis on Thursday, with big losses on Spanish property, and fragile markets casting a shadow over the rest of the year
despite an early investment banking rebound.
Spanish bank Santander said first quarter net profit dropped 24 percent
after it took a 3.1 billion euro ($4.1 billion) provision to cover rising loan defaults, as the effects of Spain’s property
market crash were compounded by economic recession and joblessness afflicting nearly one in four workers.
Although
results from Barclays and Deutsche Bank showed investment banking income bounced back strongly after a torrid end to last
year, the sickly euro zone economy continues to dog the industry.
Barclays beat analysts’ forecasts with a 22 percent
rise in underlying first-quarter profit to 2.45 billion pounds, as revenues at Barclays Capital, the investment bank that
provides the bulk of its profit, rose to 3.5 billion pounds, up 91 percent on a weak fourth quarter and up 3 percent from a
year ago.
Losses on bad debts dipped 16 percent from a year ago, but the bank warned the backdrop remained
difficult.
“The environment remains challenging and volatile,” Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond said. “It’s still
slow economic growth around the world. It’s still a zero interest rate policy in developed economies. This is not a robust
environment.”
He echoed comments from other banks that market activity had slowed in April. “Most people would say
April was a bit sluggish compared to the first three months,” he said.
By 0849 GMT the European bank index was down
0.6 percent. Santander shares had dropped 3.4 percent, and Deutsche Bank was down 3.3 percent. Only Barclays shares were in
positive territory, up 0.9 percent.
APRIL SLOWDOWN
Revenues from Deutsche Bank’s corporate banking and
securities division hit 6.2 billion euros, up over 80 percent from the fourth quarter, but down 8 percent from a year
ago.
Group pretax profit fell to 1.9 billion euros ($2.5 billion), down from 3 billion a year ago and missing
analysts’ forecasts.
“Against this backdrop financial markets remain cautious as we have seen in April, with investor
risk appetite markedly lower,” Deutsche Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said.
Deutsche Bank’s bottom line was hit by
litigation charges and a writedown on its investment in generic drug compan
