MADRID: Spain's second largest bank BBVA said Thursday its first quarter net profit plunged 53.8 percent to 709 million euros ($805 million), hit in part by unfavourable exchange rates like many of its peers.
Shares in the financial giant were down 5.58 percent at 6.36 euros mid-morning as analysts did not expect such a sharp drop in profits.
"First-quarter results where highly influenced by... the lack of corporate operations (in contrast to the previous year) and the effect of currency exchange," it said in a statement.
The same time last year, BBVA's first quarter profits had been bolstered by the partial sale of the group's stake in Chinese bank CNCB.
It is not the only bank to have suffered the effects of negative exchange rates.
Santander, the biggest bank in Spain and the eurozone, also announced a drop in first quarter profits on Wednesday as the currencies of most countries where it operates depreciated against the euro.
Like many of its peers, BBVA is also dealing with a shift to online and mobile-based banking, and now counts some 9.4 million clients who access their accounts from their phones.
Its first quarter profits in Spain dropped to 121 million euros due in part to historically low interest rates in the eurozone.
They also fell in the United States, but rose in Turkey, Mexico and Latin America.
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