By Dominic Chopping

Nordea Bank Abp on Thursday posted a forecast-beating third-quarter net profit, driven by net interest income, fees and loan-loss reversals.

The Helsinki-based bank posted net profit of 1.0 billion euros ($1.16 billion), compared with EUR837 million in the same period a year earlier. A poll of analysts by FactSet had forecast net profit at EUR945 million.

Net interest income was on consensus target at EUR1.23 billion from EUR1.15 billion.

The bank recorded EUR22 million in net loan-loss reversals and still expects net loan losses in 2021 to be significantly below the 2020 level.

Total costs in 2021 are expected to be around EUR4.6 billion.

Nordea said it expects to make a formal application for a follow-up share-buyback program in early 2022, adding that it has made decisive progress towards its 2022 financial targets.

"Given this progress, we are now preparing updates to our financial targets and business plan," Chief Executive Frank Vang-Jensen said.

"We intend to publish new financial targets alongside our fourth-quarter and full-year results."

Nordea's common equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of financial strength--rose to 16.9% at the end of the quarter from 16.4% a year earlier.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2021 01:09 ET (05:09 GMT)