By Jesús Aguado

MADRID Spanish bank BBVA on Friday said its second quarter net profit rose 24% from the same period in 2022 thanks to higher lending income in Mexico, its main market, and in Spain.

BBVA booked a net profit of 2.03 billion euros ($2.23 billion) in the April to June period, more than the 1.83 billion euros forecast by analysts polled by Reuters

It also announced a new 1 billion euro share buy-back programme.

European banks are benefiting from higher interest rates.

At a group level, BBVA's net interest income (NII), or earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 25.5% year-on-year to 5.8 billion euros in the quarter, in line with analysts' forecasts.

($1 = 0.9114 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro)