Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer SA de CV posted a 16.2% increase in its second-quarter 2018 profit compared with a year ago as the company saw a boost in financial intermediation results and net interest income.

The banking group booked 13.22 billion Mexican pesos in net income for the second quarter, up from 11.38 billion pesos in the prior-year quarter.

Net interest income for the three-month period rose 7.5% annually to 31.82 billion pesos from 29.61 billion pesos. The net interest margin for the quarter was 5.8%, compared to 5.9% in the linked quarter and 5.7% a year earlier.

Net fee income, meanwhile, jumped 13.9% to 7.01 billion pesos from 6.16 billion pesos a year ago, while the group's income from financial intermediation rose 30.8% to 2.56 billion pesos from 1.95 billion pesos.

BBVA Bancomer booked 8.60 billion pesos in loan-loss provisions during the quarter, up 6.7% from 8.06 billion pesos a year earlier.

The company's administrative and promotional expenses soared to 15.49 billion pesos during the quarter, up from the 14.30 billion pesos registered in the same period of 2017.

The group's total loan portfolio reached 1.127 trillion pesos at the end of June, up 9.6% from a year ago, including growth in commercial lending, consumer loans and mortgages of 12.5%, 5.1% and 6.6%, respectively.

The bank's nonperforming loan ratio was 1.9%, compared to 2.1% in the linked quarter and 2.2% a year earlier.

Return on equity jumped to 25.8% for the three months through June 30 from 24.2% in the year-ago period, while return on average assets grew to 2.4% from 2.2%.

Executives at Spanish parent company Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA recently said they expect double-digit net profit growth at the Mexican unit in 2018.

As of July 27, US$1 was equivalent to 18.57 Mexican pesos.