Caixabank said Tuesday that its net profit rose 17.5% in the first quarter from the same period in 2023 thanks to higher loan revenue and a solid performance by its insurance subsidiary.

Spain's largest bank by domestic assets posted a net profit of 1.01 billion euros ($1.08 billion) between January and March, above the 980 million euros expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Spanish banks are mainly involved in retail lending and have benefited from rising interest rates, as they have charged more for loans while keeping rates paid to savers in check.

Caixabank's net interest income, a measure of profit on loans minus deposit costs, rose 27.4% year-on-year in the quarter to €2.78 billion, slightly above analysts' forecasts of €2.72 billion.

NII was up around 1% from the previous quarter, as interest rates remained higher than initially expected.

(1 dollar = 0.9056 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro; edited in Spanish by Tomás Cobos)