Bankinter’s Profit Surge Hints at Sweeter Savings Rates in Portugal

Bankinter’s latest results left little room for doubt: the Spanish lender is doubling down on the Iberian peninsula and Portugal is increasingly at the heart of that strategy. Net profit worldwide rose to €812 M, an 11 % jump on last year, even as interest margins narrowed. Behind the headlines, however, lies an intriguing subplot for Portuguese savers and small firms: business on this side of the border delivered fresh growth, helped by technology upgrades, a thicker credit book and record fee income.

Earnings Momentum Outpaces Iberian Rivals

Bankinter crossed the nine-month finishing line with €811.5 M in consolidated profit, extending a multi-year streak of double-digit progress. That puts the group ahead of most Spanish peers that will only reveal their July-to-September numbers in the coming days. With a ROE of 18.2 %, a CET1 ratio near 13 % and an enviable cost-to-income level of 36 %, the Madrid-based bank remains one of the most efficient franchises in southern Europe. Investors, paradoxically, shaved 4.18 % off the share price after the disclosure, a reminder that the market had already priced in some of the good news and is now waiting for policy clues from the European Central Bank.

Portugal: A Quiet Engine Inside the Spanish Bank

Lisbon once ranked as a modest outpost for Bankinter; today it accounts for 11 % of all client business and €157 M in pre-tax profit, a 2 % bump on 2023. The local loan book expanded to €11 B—an 11 % leap that outpaced the group’s overall credit growth of 5.3 %. Deposits and other customer resources topped €10 B, while assets under custody surged 23 % to match the loan tally. Part of that traction comes from the bank’s early involvement in the Portuguese government’s public-guarantee line for first-time buyers, where Bankinter has already used 25 % of its €60 M quota. Branch refurbishments, a new analytics layer in the mobile app and a refreshed SME advisory desk have completed the picture, allowing the lender to chip away at the market shares of domestic incumbents.

What’s Driving the Bottom Line

The first nine months of the year produced €2.251 B in gross revenue, up 4.7 %. Yet the real standout item was the €577 M in net fees, a sturdy 10.6 % increase that made up for a 3.5 % decline in net interest income to €1.667 B. Wealth management, equity brokerage and transaction banking did most of the heavy lifting. The group says Portuguese clients became more active users of its Gestão de Ativos platform, pushing fee momentum higher even as loan repricing began to plateau.

Reading the Fine Print on Interest Margins

Bankinter’s net interest margin shrank, but not evenly across regions. Lower funding costs partially cushioned the squeeze, and management insists the quarter-on-quarter trend is already improving. With policy rates expected to stabilize, the bank anticipates a flatter curve in 2026 and is hedging accordingly. Portuguese mortgages—where competition remains fierce—will stay under pressure, but corporate lines and revolving credit products are still priced at spreads that preserve profitability. Analysts in Madrid estimate that every 25-basis-point cut in the ECB deposit rate could trim roughly €35 M from group revenue, so the ongoing upswing in fee-based activity is viewed as a strategic buffer.

Comparison With Spain’s Banking Heavyweights

While Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank have yet to publish their third-quarter updates, early data show that Bankinter’s 19 % ROTE places it close to the top. CaixaBank reported 19.4 % in Q1 and BBVA hit 20.4 % in Q2, but both giants carry heavier cost structures. Santander’s cost-income ratio, for instance, held at 41.5 % in June. That gap underscores why many equity analysts keep Bankinter on their buy lists despite last week’s share slip. Crucially for Portuguese observers, none of the larger rivals has matched the double-digit credit expansion Bankinter notched in Portugal, where the competitive landscape is already crowded with BPI, Novo Banco and CGD.

Outlook: Rates, Digital Bets and the Portuguese Market

Chief executive María Dolores Dancausa told reporters she sees “no appetite for large acquisitions” but plenty of room to grow organically in Portugal, Ireland and Luxembourg. Locally, the bank plans to funnel more cash into AI-driven risk models, an initiative that should speed up mortgage approvals and micro-loans for micro-exporters. Cost discipline will get harder as salaries in Portugal catch up with European averages, yet management believes productivity gains from automation will offset the wage drift. For consumers, the immediate takeaway is simple: competition for deposits is likely to intensify, meaning slightly better savings rates could arrive by early 2026. The broader message for policymakers is equally clear—Spain’s most agile lender sees Portugal as strategic turf, and its performance so far suggests the feeling is mutual among Portuguese households and entrepreneurs.