Italy’s biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo confirmed its outlook for the year after posting a bigger-than-expected 13.6% yearly rise in first quarter profit thanks to rising fee and trading income.
That was more than enough to offset an 8% decline in the net interest margin resulting from a shrinking gap between lending and deposit rates.
Intesa said net profit for the three months through March totalled 2.6 billion euros ($2.9 billion), above an analyst consensus forecast compiled by Reuters of 2.4 billion euros.
Revenues totalled 6.8 billion euros, fractionally ahead of expectations and the previous year’s figure. Countering the drag from lower interest rates, net fees rose 7% year-on-year with brokerage fees in particular up by more than one fifth.
Trading income tripled from a year before in volatile markets to 265 million euros.
Intesa, which just handed long-standing Chief Executive Carlo Messina another three-year term at the helm, confirmed a forecast of 2025 net profit well above 9 billion euros.
Source: Reuters