Spain's biggest bank Santander saw its profit fall by 8.5 per cent to 8.2 billion euros (11.7 billion dollars) in 2010, the bank said Thursday, according to dpa. Santander attributed the losses largely to stricter loan loss provisions by the Bank of Spain. The central bank is trying to shore up a banking sector which was hit hard by the meltdown of the country's key construction sector during the global crisis. Santander's profits in Latin America and Britain rose by 25 and 15 per cent respectively. Profit in continental Europe went down 23 per cent.
