MADRID, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Spain's largest lender, Banco Santander, earned an attributable profit of 3.6 billion euros (4.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of the year, the bank reported on Friday.
The figure was a 24-percent increase compared to the same period of a year earlier.
According to the bank, the rise was due to "an increase in customer revenues, disciplined cost control, and further improvements in loan loss provisions".
Banco Santander reported that the recent acquisition of Banco Popular, which was bought for one euro on June 7, contributed a further 11 million euros to the profit.
"Since acquiring Popular less than two months ago, we have made significant progress in addressing the immediate priorities," said Banco Santander chairwoman Ana Botin.
"We are, therefore, extremely confident that the acquisition of Popular will deliver a return on investment of 13 to 14 percent by 2019," she added.
Banco Santander added 1.9 million customers, excluding those of Banco Popular, over the last 12 months. Lending rose by 1.0 percent and customer funds increased by 8.0 percent.
"We have continued to deliver on our commitments, creating a strong profitable growth, and further improving the quality of our earnings throughout the group," Botin said.
