Bankinter shares sink 7.56% despite 11% profit rise, dragging Ibex 35 below 19,000

Results and share price

Bankinter reported a net attributable profit of 900.67 million euros for the first nine months of 2026, up 10.99% on the same period a year earlier. The figures were filed with Spain's securities regulator, the CNMV, before the market opened on Thursday, 22 October. Net interest margin rose 5.68% to 1,761 million euros, the gross margin climbed 6.49% to 2,397 million euros, and net fees reached 650.73 million euros, up 12.86%. Despite those gains, the shares slid more than 4% in early trading, to 14.63 euros around 9.30 in the morning. They closed down 7.56% at 14.13 euros, the worst performer on the Ibex 35, which lost 2.12% to 18,913.50 points.

Executives and analysts

The drop was Bankinter's steepest since April 2025, when its shares fell 9.31% to 8.862 euros after the announcement of a new tariff plan by US President Donald Trump. Chief financial officer Jacobo Díaz rejected the idea that the figures caused the sell-off and said the market had reacted to something else.

The results we have published follow the consensus and fit perfectly.

CEO Gloria Ortiz linked the fall to sector-wide volatility, higher oil prices and recent outages at some neobanks, a reference to the recent intervention of Revolut's service in Spain. She added that investments in the stock market are a long-term matter and that the quarter's results endorse the bank's strategies.

The stock market is extremely volatile, Bankinter is falling, and so are all European banks and the national ones.

Jefferies called the market reaction exaggerated. Its analysts said the bank's revenue came in 2% below market consensus and its loan book 1% below estimates, while the firm argued the net interest margin was in line with expectations and fees were only slightly weaker. The firm reiterated its buy recommendation and pointed to a 25% upside to its target price.

In our view, the entry point is attractive.

Bankinter also said it does not plan to change its dividend policy in the short term, given new capital requirements from the European Central Bank that take effect on 1 January 2027.

French risk and the wider market

The Ibex decline was also driven by the French risk premium, which rose above 170 basis points, its highest since 2011, while the 10-year French sovereign yield reached 5%, the highest since 2002. Pressure on French debt built up in recent weeks alongside higher oil prices, which led the ECB to tighten monetary policy in September. Unrest in France in the weekend of 17 and 18 October added to the concern, and investors are awaiting an imminent Moody's decision on the solvency of French debt. Elsewhere in Spain, CaixaBank fell 5.72% and Solaria 5.26%. Atresmedia reported net revenue of 724.3 million euros for the first nine months, up 4%, while Metrovacesa reported 465 million euros, up 75%. Global investors are also looking ahead to Microsoft and Alphabet results in the week of 26 October, after Tesla and Meta reported on Wednesday, 21 October.

Regional results

By market, the group's pre-tax profit reached 1.27 billion euros, up 10.8%. Spain contributed 1,050 million euros (up 10%), Portugal 178 million euros (up 13%) and Ireland 41 million euros (up more than 21%). In Portugal, the loan book reached 12 billion euros, up 9%, while customer business in Ireland rose 26% to 5.6 billion euros, led by credit growing 23.4%. In Spain alone, loans grew 3% to 69 billion euros and customer assets rose 19% to 238 billion euros. The group reported a return on equity of 19.2%.