KBC beats Q4 profit, sees further income growth in 2025 (updated)

KBC Groep NV

13/02/2025 06:34

(Adds quote, details in paragraphs 3,5-7)
       Feb 13 (Reuters) - Belgium's largest bank KBC  KBC.BR 
beat expectations on Thursday with a fourth-quarter net profit
of 1.17 billion euros ($1.22 billion), surpassing the 1.06
billion euros figure in a company provided poll.
        "Compared to the result of the previous quarter, our
total income benefited from several factors, including higher
net interest income, increased insurance revenues and sharply
higher net fee and commission income", said CEO Johan Thijs.
  
    It reported net interest income (NII) of 1.43 billion euros,
exceeding the same analyst consensus and up 3%
quarter-on-quarter, with net fee and commission income rising 9%
compared to the third quarter.
    The lender expects total income to grow by at least 5.5% in
2025 compared with the previous year, while its NII should
amount to no less than 5.7 billion euros and be supported by
organic loan growth of around 4%. 
        KBC also sees its insurances revenues before reinsurance
 jumping 7% or more in the year. In 2024, it came at 2.95
billion euros, accounting for more than 26% of total income.
  
        Its CET-1 ratio, calculating capital reserves required
to withstand financial distress, stands at 15%, well above the
legal threshold of 10.88%.
  
 ($1 = 0.9583 euros)

 (Reporting by Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega; Editing by
Himani Sarkar and Kim Coghill)
 ((jakob.vancalster@thomsonreuters.com
mateusz.rabiega@thomsonreuters.com))