Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBV) on Tuesday reported a 7.2% drop in nine-month net profit as a sharp rise in impairments for loan losses countered revenue growth at its Iberian and Latin American operations.

BBVA - Spain's second-biggest bank by assets behind Banco Santander SA (STD) - said net profit in the period fell to EUR4.18 billion from EUR4.50 billion.

Despite pressure on its bottom line, the bank had another strong boost to lending income, as BBVA took advantage of the weakness of other banks to attract new clients and as it charged more for loans.

BBVA's loan book deteriorated further in the quarter, with non-performing loans rising to 3.4% of total loans from 1.7% a year earlier. The bank is coping with prolonged recessions in its two biggest markets of Spain and Mexico.

Its shares closed Monday at EUR12.49 The stock is up 54% in the year to date, as investors bet that it will do better through the downturn than most rivals. Shares in its main rival, Santander, which is due to publish third-quarter earnings Wednesday, has gained 76%.

-By Christopher Bjork and Jason Sinclair, Dow Jones Newswires, +34 91 395 81 23, christopher.bjork@dowjones.com