MADRID--Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain's
second-biggest bank, on Friday reported a fourth-quarter net loss,
triggered by a charge related to an earlier sale of shares in a
Chinese bank.
BBVA reported a net loss of EUR849 million in the three months
to Dec. 31, compared with a net profit of EUR20 million a year
earlier. Analysts had expected a net loss of EUR765 million.
In October, BBVA cut its stake in China Citic Bank Corp. to just
below 10%, a move meant to bolster its capital ahead of
balance-sheet tests by European authorities. The bank said at the
time the sale would trigger a EUR2.3 billion hit to its
results.
For the full year, the bank reported net profit of EUR2.2
billion, up 33% from 2012. BBVA said net interest income in the
fourth quarter fell 3.8% to EUR3.8 billion from EUR3.9 billion a
year earlier. Analysts had expected net interest income to be
around EUR3.6 billion.
The results come after Spain's largest bank, Banco Santander SA,
said Thursday that fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled as
it set aside a smaller proportion of its earnings to cover loan
losses. That offset a fall in net interest income.
Write to Jeannette Neumann at jeannette.neumann@wsj.com
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