Caixabank's Q3 net profit rises 19% on lending and insurance

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Caixabank on Friday said that its net profit in the third quarter rose 18.8% against a year ago thanks to an increase in lending income, fees and higher earnings from its insurance business.

The country's biggest lender by domestic assets reported a net profit of 884 million euros ($882.50 million) in the July to September period. Analysts polled by Reuters expected a net profit of 810 million euros.

Caixabank's net interest income (NII), or earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 6.2% year-on-year to 1.687 billion euros in the third quarter, boosted by higher interest rates. That also beat the analysts' forecasts of 1.65 billion euros.

Over the first nine months of the year, however, lending income was down 0.4% compared to the same period a year ago.

($1 = 1.0017 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Inti Landauro)