Chilean banks earned US$ 1.37 billion during first nine months of 2008

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SANTIAGO.- The National Bank Supervisor (Superintendecia de Bancos) announced today that Chilean bank earnings reached the equivalent of some $1.37 billion U.S. dollars between January and September of this year. The organization did not however, offer a data comparison for the percentages observed in 2007.

Banco Santander Chile, an affiliate of the Spanish Banco Santander, led the results with earnings of $252.552 billion pesos (US$ 457.1 million dollars) in the first nine months of this year.

Banco de Chile came in second in the market, reporting earnings of $ 215.251 billion pesos, which is the equivalent of some US $389.6 million dollars.

Meanwhile, BCI, the third largest private financial institution in the country, earned $109.106 billion pesos and was followed by Corpbanca, which reported earnings of $42.506 billion pesos through September.