OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2015. The euro zone's biggest bank, Santander, on Tuesday posted a nearly 70 percent jump in fourth quarter profit from a year earlier, lifted by earnings from its lending business and as charges on soured loans fell.

The Spanish bank said net profit was 1.46 billion euros (\\$1.65 billion) in the October-December period - the first quarter under new boss Ana Botin, who has shaken up the lender with management changes and recently bolstered capital through a cash call.

That was slightly below forecasts for a 1.47-billion-euro quarterly profit.

Like local peers reporting results in the past week, Santander revised 2013 earnings downwards to reflect payments to deposit guarantee funds. Without that restatement, fourth quarter net profit would have risen just 37 percent.