PARIS (Reuters) – French bank BNP Paribas reported better than expected profits in the second quarter as bad loan provisions dipped despite the economic slowdown and business remained buoyant, particularly in investment banking, amid torrid global markets.
France’s biggest listed lender said on Friday that net income rose 9.1% year-on-year to 3.18 billion euros ($3.25 billion) while an informal consensus circulating among analysts saw net income at only about 2.70 billion euros.
Across the group, revenues rose 8.5% to 12.78 billion euros, faster than operating expenses which were up 7.6% at 7.72 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9790 euros)
(Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Matthieu Protard; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
