Dutch lender ABN Amro on Wednesday reported a third-quarter net profit well above market expectations, boosted by higher interest rates and growing loan books.
ABN Amro, one of three dominant banks in the Netherlands, posted a 2% rise in quarterly net profit to 759 million euros ($811 million), compared with 743 million a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a profit of 583 million in a company-compiled poll.
"Demand for credit remains good and both our mortgage and corporate loan books increased," Chief Executive Officer Robert Swaak said in a statement.
However, the lender's net interest income (NII), a key measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, was 5% lower than in the second quarter and 6% below analysts' expectations, as its deposit margins declined due to rising interest rates on savings accounts, it said.
Its NII stood at 1.53 billion euros in the third quarter, up 20% from a year earlier.
The bank also trimmed its expected costs for 2023 to a range of between 5.1 billion and 5.2 billion euros, versus a prior forecast of 5.2 billion euros.
The banking sector has been one of the main beneficiaries of rising interest rates over the past two years, but central banks seem to be at the end of this cycle of monetary tightening.