Spain's Santander, the euro zone's biggest bank, has posted lower than expected net lending income in the fourth quarter, though profits more than doubled compared to a year ago thanks to falling charges on soured property loans.

The bank, which makes just over half its net income in emerging markets, said profits had reached €1.06 billion s in the last three months of 2013, up 150 per cent from year ago levels but also below analysts’ forecasts.

Santander, which is heavily reliant on Latin America, said it was gearing up for a period of higher growth.

Santander weathered the crisis at home through revenues from overseas, though Latin American profits fell 16 perc ent to €3.26 billion in 2013.

In Brazil, which contributed just under a quarter of earnings, profits were down 28 per cent for the full year.

Across the group, Santander’s net interest income in the fourth quarter - a measure of earnings from loans minus funding costs - came in at €6.27 billion, around 11 per cent down from a year ago.

It posted a net profit of €4.37 billion for the whole of 2013, up from €2.29 billion euros in 2012.

Santander shares were down around 1.3 per cent at €6.3 euros per share in early trading.

Reuters