MILAN, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Banco BPM on Thursday reported a 2025 net profit that beat market expectations and its own guidance as a surge in fees more then offset the impact of a decline in lending income.
Italy's third-largest bank, still seen as a potential player in domestic M&A deals after UniCredit's failed takeover last year, has been refocusing its business model on fee income from wealth management and investment products.
It accelerated this shift with the November acquisition of fund manager Anima .
The Milan-based lender reported a full-year net profit of 2.08 billion euros, up 8.4% from the previous year. That compared with a consensus forecast of 1.89 billion euros, based on an LSEG poll of analysts, and the bank's own guidance of 1.95 billion euros.
A 21% yearly rise in net fees, driven by sales of wealth management and investment products, more than compensated a 9% drop in the net interest margin - the gap between lending and deposit rates - which has been narrowing as interest rates decline.
Banco BPM said its board had approved a final dividend of 0.54 euros per share, bringing the total 2025 dividend to 1 euro, also considering an interim payout of 0.46 euros per share approved in November.
The bank said it was confident of delivering a 1 euro dividend also for 2026, adding it was on track to meet the 2024-2027 strategic target of more than 6 billion euros in cumulative payouts.
(Reporting by Andrea Mandalà, editing by Alvise Armellini)
