bank shares in europe are falling as earnings season kicks off on there with results from national banking champions ubs ubsg and santander san showing some weakness ubs gained new customers as credit suisse faced trouble in the first quarter but the swiss giant reported a lowerthanexpected profit due to lower client activity and a legal provision for the second quarter it said client activity levels could remain subdued given economic uncertainty and concerns about the stability of banks spains santander reported lower profits in the us and brazil the latter is often the biggest earnings driver for the bank rising interest rates helped its european business as santander profited from higher lending rates but inflation is hurting cost control operating costs rose 11 in the quarter the bank posted a 1 rise in profits