BBVA earns 2.7 billion in the first quarter of the year
The Competition Authority postpones its ruling on the takeover bid for Banc Sabadell due to the power outage.
MADRIDBBVA has kicked off the year with another record profit. The Bilbao-based bank posted a net profit of €2.698 billion in the first three months of 2025 (between January and March), representing a 22.7% increase compared to the same period in 2024, as reported by the bank this Tuesday through the National Securities Market Commission (CNM).
Despite the lowering of interest rates by central banks, an element that has so far boosted the banking business, BBVA's revenue, or gross margin, between January and March was €9.324 billion, up 13.5%. Of that figure, net interest income (interest margin) fell 1.7% to €6.398 billion, while net fees grew 9.2% to €2.06 billion. With these results, BBVA has boosted its return on tangible equity (ROTE) to 20%.
Business by country
Mexico once again remained the main country contributing to the bank's profit growth, although less than the previous year. In the first three months of the year, this market accounted for €1.332 billion of profit, a 7.6% decrease. In Spain, profits increased by 43.8%, to €1.024 billion, while Türkiye accounted for €158 million.
![Vista de la Ciudad de México, desde un piso superior del edificio BBVA Bancomer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 9"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
One year after the second attempt to buy Sabadell
Tuesday's results were released a year after BBVA made its second attempt to acquire Banc Sabadell (the first attempt was in 2020). After the Catalan bank refused to negotiate a merger, the Bilbao-based entity launched the hostile takeover bid, which is still pending. In fact, as a result of yesterday's power outage, the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) postponed the meeting it had planned to hold to issue its final opinion on the takeover bid. The supervisory body is expected to meet again this Wednesday and announce its conclusions (commitments and conditions), which are expected to be favorable to BBVA.
"Europe needs more banks to address the necessary investments in technology, sustainability, energy, and defense. Only in this way can we have a more competitive economy compared to the rest of the world. In this context, the merger with Banco Sabadell is a great opportunity to create a stronger, more competitive, and more profitable bank," the CEO argued in the press release.
