French bank Credit Agricole has reported a near fourfold increase in first-quarter profit, as it moved on from a complex revamp of shareholding ties with its parent group and benefited from a surge in trading activity.
Credit Agricole's asset management arm Amundi is buying rival Pioneer Investments from Unicredit for €3.6 billion.
It said today that its net income rose to €845m from €227m last year, when results were hit by restructuring costs.
Its revenue rose 24% to €4.7 billion, driven by a bumper quarter for capital market activities that rose 17% and a rebound in French retail banking.
Credit Agricole's retail bank also had an 8% rise in revenue, driven by high volumes of loan restructuring fees and stronger loan growth.
The bank said that its stronger revenue growth reflected "an improvement in economic activity in the group's core European markets, but above all, the robustness of the universal customer-focused banking model".
Credit Agricole's higher profits echoed a similar performance at other rival French banks this quarter, with BNP Paribas and Natixis posting higher earnings.
However legal costs contributed to SocGen reporting lower profits.
