Bloomberg Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest bank, reported lower first-quarter profit as revenue slumped in its home market and operations aboard were hit by currency effects. Net income fell 5 percent to 1.63 billion euros ($1.84 billion) from 1.72 billion euros a year earlier, the bank said on Wednesday. That beat the 1.5 billion-euro average estimate in a Bloomberg survey …

Beijing / Bloomberg A Chinese bank head signalled confidence that the government will loosen requirements for lenders’ bad-debt provisions, a move that could help them to report larger profits. A reduction in the coverage ratio to about 120 percent to 130 percent of existing non-performing debt would be “reasonable” and “possible,” Wang Hongzhang, the chairman of China Construction Bank Corp., …

  Bloomberg Scandinavia’s biggest bank said profit plunged 28 percent last quarter as revenue sank after negative rates and market selloffs created an inhospitable environment for the industry. Nordea Bank AB reported net income of 782 million euros ($884 million), missing the 792 million-euro estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net interest income slipped 7 percent while total operating income …