Jan 17 (Reuters) - Huntington Bancshares ( HBAN ) on

Friday reported a more than two-fold rise in its fourth-quarter

profit, helped by robust performance in its capital markets unit

and a higher interest income.

The bank has diversified its offerings beyond lending into

fee-earning businesses, a strategy that has paid off as

companies actively sold stocks and bonds and pursued deals,

driving up the fee that lenders charge for such transactions.

Capital markets and advisory fees jumped 74% to $120

million, while wealth and asset management revenue rose 8% to

$93 million in the three months ended Dec. 31, Huntington said.

These drove up the company's profit to $530 million, or 34

cents per share, from $243 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier.

The profit also beat analysts' expectation of 31 cents,

according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of the company rose 1.5% in premarket trading on

Friday.

Bankers expect global deal volumes to surpass $4 trillion in

2025, the highest in four years, buoyed by U.S. President-elect

Donald Trump's promise of less regulation, lower corporate taxes

and a broadly pro-business stance.

NII EXPECTATIONS FOLLOW TREND

The Columbus, Ohio-based firm expects its 2025 net interest

income (NII)-- the difference between what banks earn on loans

and pay out for deposits -- to grow 4% to 6% to a record.

Bigger peers Bank of America ( BAC ) and JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )

have also forecast a jump in their 2025 NII on

expectations of strong loan growth and continued normalization

of deposit costs as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates

further.

Huntington's NII rose 6% to $1.39 billion in the quarter.

"We delivered exceptional fourth quarter results highlighted

by record fee income, accelerated loan growth, and sustained

deposit gathering," said chairman and CEO Steve Steinour.