The international lender says total loans grew 7% to £900bn in the period, with mortgages and consumer lending up by 7%, and commercial lending up by 6%.   

The bank, which operates across ten core markets in Europe and the Americas and has 159 million customers, says its loan book is “well diversified across both business lines and geographies, with 65% of total lending secured”.  

The group, led by executive chair Ana Botín, added that in the third quarter it “continued to see strong customer activity in the quarter despite market uncertainty”.  

In the UK, it says underlying attributable profit in the first nine months was stable at £986bn.  

UK loans grew by 4% supported by an increase of £28.2bn in gross new mortgage lending, adding that the “cost of risk remained very low”, in this market.  

It adds that total UK income lifted by 10%, driven by strong net interest income growth of 12%, “benefitting from higher interest rates and a resilient mortgage market”.  

However, the bank adds that group third quarter, attributable profit lifted by 2% to £2.1bn, partly impacted by a €181m charge following July Polish mortgage payment holiday regulations, which means that homeowners in that market can suspend payments for up to four months this year and four months next year.