Banco BPM has raised its dividend guidance for 2026 after reporting record adjusted profit for the first nine months of the year, underlining the Italian lender's push to return more cash to shareholders even as a higher tax charge weighed on its stated bottom line.

The bank reported nine-month net income of €1.513 billion, down from €1.665 billion in the same period last year. Adjusted net income, which strips out one-off items, rose 2.6% to €1.532 billion, a record for the period, while net profit from continuing operations increased 3% to €1.582 billion. Adjusted pre-tax profit climbed 7.5% to €2.406 billion.

Total revenues reached €4.666 billion. Net fee and commission income rose 9.6% to €2.070 billion, more than offsetting a 1.3% fall in net interest income to €2.330 billion. Loan loss provisions decreased to €224.0 million from €254.5 million a year earlier, and gross non-performing exposures fell 22% year on year to €1.95 billion, reflecting improving credit quality across the loan book.

The board declared an interim dividend of €0.50 per share, payable on 25 November, with an ex-dividend date of 23 November. That is 8.7% higher than the €0.46 interim dividend paid in 2025. Looking ahead, the bank raised its full-year dividend guidance to more than €1 per share, implying a yield of about 7.5% at recent prices, and confirmed its 2026 net income guidance of more than €1.95 billion. It also said it expects to outperform its 2027 pre-tax profit target of €3.150 billion.

Shareholder remuneration is set to rise further. Banco BPM increased its cumulative payout target for 2024 to 2027 to approximately €7 billion, up from more than €6 billion, including an inaugural share buyback whose size will be set after approval from the European Central Bank. On the earnings call, chief executive Giuseppe Castagna said the bank had about €4 billion still to deliver over the next 18 months, close to 20% of its current market value. The bank's Common Equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 13.8% at the end of September.

The results come against a complicated corporate backdrop. On 21 August 2026, Monte dei Paschi di Siena announced a voluntary public exchange offer for all Banco BPM ordinary shares, and the bank's board has been weighing the proposal while pressing ahead with its standalone plan. The European Central Bank confirmed in its annual Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process that Banco BPM's Pillar 2 requirement will stay unchanged at 2.25% for 2027.

Investors gave the figures a cool reception. Banco BPM shares closed down 0.25% at €13.89 on Thursday, the day the results were published, and fell 3.17% on Friday as Italian bank stocks led declines in Milan, with Bper down 2.7% and payments group Nexi down 3.64%. The broader Milan market still ended the week 1.1% higher despite Friday's sell-off, as technology shares including STMicroelectronics, Technoprobe and Prysmian recovered ground.