Santander posts 50 pct fall in Q2 net profit on extraordinary charges

(Corrects lede to say second quarter not first half)

MADRID, July 27 (Reuters) - Banco Santander (Amsterdam: 817651.AS - news) on Wednesday posted an almost 50 percent fall in second quarter net profit from a year earlier, hit by one-off charges linked to restructuring costs and payments into a EU banking resolution fund.

Santander, the euro zone's biggest bank by market value, reported net profit of 1.28 billion euros ($1.40 billion), just above analysts' forecasts of 1.24 billion euros in a Reuters poll.

Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) interest income, a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, was 7.6 billion euros for the second quarter, down 8.6 percent from a year ago, mirroring pressure on margins experienced by other Spanish banks.

Net profit for the first half of the year was 2.91 billion euros, down 32 percent from the same period the year before. ($1 = 0.9096 euros) (Reporting by Angus Berwick and Jesus Aguado; Editing by Paul Day)