Spain's Bankinter said today its fourth-quarter net profit rose 25% from the same time 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 €278m in the three months from October to December, above the €272m expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
For the whole of 2025, net profit rose 14% to €1.09 billion compared to forecasts of €1.08 billion.
Bankinter operates in Ireland through its subsidiary Avant Money.
It said that growth in the Ireland business was significantly faster, albeit with lower overall business
volumes than in Spain and Portugal.
Loans and receivables increased by 23% over the year to reach €5 billion, the bank said. Of this total figure, €4 billion related to mortgages, with the bank's mortgage book growing by 27% in the period.
It said the remainder of the loan book consists of consumer lending, which recorded somewhat lower growth of 11%.
Bankinter said that all income statement margins in Ireland grew at a faster pace than in the group's other geographies, with gross income rising by 14%.
Pre-tax profit amounted to €46m, 13% higher than in 2024.
It also said today that it is not looking at Irish lender PTSB, which has put itself up for sale, or any acquisitions in Ireland.
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 compared to forecasts of €2.23 billion.
In the fourth quarter, however, NII already rose 4% to €570m, above analysts' forecasts of €566m.
