The actions taken by President Donald Trump have been "good" for the economy so far, the chairman of Banco Santander told CNBC on Wednesday, downplaying the president's comments on trade.

"I look to actions not words and the actions so far are actually good for the economy," Ana Botin, chairman of Banco Santander, told CNBC Wednesday when asked about Trump's comments on NAFTA — a trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

"We are very encouraged for example with the new administration's appointments on the financial side. They are absolutely keen that we keep a very strong financial sector but they also want banks to support growth," Botin said, adding "we can reinvest the tax savings in higher wages, more lending and this is very good news."

Banco Santander posted on Wednesday a 4 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier, hurt by extraordinary impairments in its U.S. unit that offset solid underlying results from Spain's biggest lender.

Santander, the euro zone's biggest bank in terms of market value, reported a net profit of 1.54 billion euros ($1.92 billion) for the October-December period. Analysts had expected net profit to come in at 1.46 billion euros in the quarter.