BNP Paribas sees 44.8% quarterly profit leap
Thursday, 5 November 2009 08:34France's BNP Paribas bank reported a 44.8% rise in net quarterly profits today, beating expectations with strong investment banking and markets performance.
The retail banking division, however, continued to suffer from a rise in bad loan provisions in the third quarter. Net profit was €1.305 billion compared with expectations of €1.197 billion.
Overall group loan risk eased slightly from the figure for the second quarter, but remained high at €2.3 billion.
The net outcome was high compared with the equivalent figure last year when banks began to be severely hit by the repercussions of the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers. However, it fell short of the equivalent figure two years ago of more than €2 billion.
Net banking income, a key measure of core banking business, rose by 40% to €10.865 billion. This included a contribution from BNP Paribas Fortis. The investment banking arm generated nearly 60% of the outcome before tax in the quarter.
