Spanish bank BBVA announced on Monday that its attributable profit for the first quarter increased 19% compared to the same period last year, thanks to a solid performance in Mexico, its main market.

The bank posted an attributable profit of 2.2 billion euros ($2.36 billion) in the January-March period, up from 1.85 billion euros in the same period last year.

Analysts consulted by Reuters had expected a net profit of 2.06 billion euros.

(1 U.S. dollar = 0.9320 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Inti Landauro; Spanish edition by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)