Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA on Tuesday reported a 1% dip in third-quarter net profit as a sharp rise in impairments for loan losses offset revenue growth in its Iberian and Latin American operations.
BBVA, Spain's second-biggest bank by assets behind Banco Santander SA, said net profit in the quarter edged down to $2.07 billion, better than the average $1.96 billion forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 10 analysts.
The company had $65.8 billion of U.S. assets at Sept. 30, including its August purchase of the failed Guaranty Bank. That deal was the latest in a wave of acquisitions in recent years by BBVA that has included a small California bank, three banks in Texas and Compass Bank in Birmingham, Ala.
"The quarters up until now have been positive and better than we expected — in the fourth quarter, we don't expect any surprises because we are seeing some economic growth already," Chief Executive Angel Cano told reporters.
Net interest income rose 13%, to $5.14 billion, from a year earlier. Analysts had forecast $5.04 billion.
BBVA's loan book deteriorated further in the quarter, as nonperforming loans rose to 3.4% of total loans, from 1.7% a year earlier. The bank is coping with prolonged recessions in its two biggest markets, Spain and Mexico. It set aside $2.61 billion in the quarter to cover loan losses, up from $1.37 billion a year earlier.
