Santander, the euro zone's largest bank, posted a 5 percent fall in first-quarter net profit yesterday, beating forecasts for a 15 percent drop thanks to a strong rise in net interest income.

Santander said net profit fell to 2.096 billion euros ($2.73 billion), above forecasts in a Reuters poll, which had on average expected 1.865 billion euros.

Interest income rose 22.2 percent to 6.23 billion euros.