BBVA BBVA Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA

By Jeannette Neumann

MADRID--Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA.MC) said Thursday it boosted its capital level more than investors had been expecting, helping to send the Spanish bank's shares up.

Spain's No. 2 bank by market value said its capital ratio increased to 11% at the end of September from 10.71% in the second quarter, under international regulations known as "fully loaded" Basel III criteria. That was ahead of schedule. BBVA had previously said it would reach 11% at some point in 2017.

BBVA reported an increase in its capital level in the third quarter despite the negative impact of a sovereign rating downgrade this year for Turkey, where BBVA owns a major stake in a bank. Some analysts had expected the Turkish downgrade to drag BBVA's capital ratio down.

While BBVA's capital level remains below many European peers, the increase was a welcome surprise and shares were up around 0.8% in morning trading in Madrid.

BBVA said it swung to a third-quarter net profit of EUR965 million ($1.05 billion) from a year-earlier loss of EUR1.06 billion, when the bank took an impairment charge on its investment in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS. BBVA owns 39.9% of the Turkish bank, one of the country's largest. At the time, BBVA said without the writedown, it would have reported a net profit of EUR784 million.

Thursday's net profit figures beat analysts estimates of EUR862 million in the third quarter, according to a poll by data provider FactSet.

BBVA said net interest income fell to EUR4.3 billion from EUR4.5 billion a year earlier. That also beat analysts' estimates.

Net interest income, a key profit driver for retail banks, is the difference between what lenders earn from loans and pay for deposits.

Write to Jeannette Neumann at jeannette.neumann@wsj.com<mailto:jeannette.neumann@wsj.com>

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 04:51 ET (08:51 GMT)

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