LISBON, July 27 (Reuters) - Portugal's largest listed bank, Millennium bcp, said on Thursday its first-half net profit soared nearly seven times from a year ago, boosted by rising interest rates in Europe and cost controls, and it may resume dividend payouts next year.

Chief Executive Miguel Maia said the bank had managed to meet all its targets a year earlier than planned and was "considering the possibility of paying dividends to shareholders again on the results of 2023" after a two-year hiatus.

"This year is going well, it is a year of transition after all the recovery we have made at the bank, despite all the challenges," Maia told a news conference, highlighting a strong improvement in its common equity Tier 1 capital ratio, by 268 basis points to 14% in June.

The bank booked a consolidated net profit of 423 million euros ($465 million), up from 62 million euros a year earlier, with profit from its domestic business more than doubling to 353.7 million euros, it said in a statement.

Its half-owned Polish subsidiary, Bank Millennium, swung to a net profit of 358 million zloty ($89 million) in the first half from a year-ago loss, despite 808 million zloty in provisions related to legal risks over its portfolio of Swiss franc mortgage loans.

The Portuguese bank's consolidated net interest income (NII), or earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 39.5% to 1.37 billion euros in the first half, benefiting from interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank and the Polish central bank to curb inflation.

Its core income, including NII and fees, rose 28% to 1.8 billion euros.

It reduced non-performing exposures by 14% to 2.1 billion euros in June from a year ago.

The bank gained 3.7% more customers, whose number reached more than 6.57 million, with mobile customers now representing 66% of the total. ($1 = 4.0174 zlotys) ($1 = 0.9094 euros) (Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip)