By Jesús Aguado
MADRID – Spanish bank Unicaja said on Tuesday it booked a net loss of 1 million euros ($1.08 million) in the fourth quarter as higher loan loss provisions more than offset the higher income from lending.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected a net profit of 35 million euros.
In the same period a year ago, Unicaja reported a loss of 18 million euros due to one-off charges and lower lending income.
Though lenders in Europe are beginning to benefit from higher borrowing costs, some of them book higher provisions anticipating the economic uncertainty in the near future stemming from high inflation.
Unicaja’s net interest income (NII), or earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 25% year-on-year to 293 million euros in the fourth quarter, below the 298 million euros forecast by analysts.
