Spain's Bankinter (BKT.MC), opens new tab said on Thursday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 25% from the same period in 2024 thanks to a rise in fees and loans that helped drive a recovery in lending income.
The country's fifth-biggest bank by market value reported a net profit of 278 million euros in the October to December period, above the 272 million euros expected by analysts polled by Reuters. For the whole of 2025, net profit rose 14% to 1.09 billion euros compared to forecasts of 1.08 billion euros.
As banks try to lift non-core banking revenues, net fees and commissions at Bankinter rose 10.9% year-on-year in the quarter and 11% in 2025 while loans rose 5% last year in a solid domestic macroeconomic environment.
Spanish banks are mainly retail lenders and have benefited from higher costs of loans, though this tailwind has reversed as interest rates have been falling.
In this context, its 2025 net interest income (NII) - earnings on loans minus deposit costs - fell last year 1.8% to 2.24 billion euros compared to forecasts of 2.23 billion euros. In the fourth quarter, however, NII already rose 4% to 570 million euros, above analysts' forecasts of 566 million euros.
