Euro zone banking giant pays heavy price as core markets hit by pandemic MADRID: Spain’s Santander reported a record net loss of €11.1 billion ($13 billion) in the second quarter, taking the biggest hit yet for a European bank dealing with the coronavirus crisis which it tried to offset with lower costs. The euro zone’s second-biggest bank by market value said on Wednesday it had booked one-off charges worth €12.6 billion as the economic deterioration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to write down previous acquisitions, mainly in Europe. Santander’s core markets spanning Brazil to Spain have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic, with weaker emerging market currencies exacerbating the pain. Of the total impairments, €10.1 billion are related to goodwill and €2.5 billion to DTAs, an instrument that grants tax breaks to companies when reporting losses or against certain provisions. The bank said impairments would have no impact on its capital levels, which rose to 11.46 percent in June from 11.33 percent in March with the full implementation of new accounting standards. Santander reiterated its guidance for cost of risk, a measure of the cost of insuring its loan book, at between 130 basis points (bps) and 150 bps by the end of 2020 after it rose in June to 126 basis points. It was 100 bps in March. Excluding one-offs, underlying attributable profit fell 27 percent to €1.53 billion against the same quarter a year ago. Analysts at UBS said the cost performance was better than expected but called the results “a messy set of numbers,” confirming the negative direction for revenues in most units and the likely rise of loan loss provisions in the second half. Santander said the group was ahead of its cost savings plan, with operating expenses down 5 percent year on year in real terms and the European region achieving more than €300 million in costs efficiencies in the first half, 75 percent of the 2020 target. Net interest income, a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, fell 14 percent to €7.72 billion due to pressure from low interest rates, while revenues fell 15 percent to €10.46 billion. Analysts polled by Reuters expected net interest income at €7.75 billion and revenues at €10.56 billion. The COVID-19 related impairments hit return on tangible equity ratio (ROTE), a measure of profitability, which stood at 5.19 percent at the end of June. Santander said it was proposing a scrip dividend, payable in new shares, this year equivalent to 10 cents per share for 2019, after the European Central Bank’s recommended euro zone banks did not pay cash dividends until the end of 2020. The bank said its board intended to resume paying a full cash dividend as “soon as market conditions normalize, subject to regulatory approvals and guidance.”