The profit of "BNP Paribas" SA, the largest French bank, increased 31% in Q2 2010, compared to Q2 2009, due to lower bad loan provisions.
The bank"s net profit reached 2.11 billion Euros (2.76 billion dollars), whereas analysts were expecting only 1.61 billion Euros.
During the reporting period, the bank"s bad loan provisions dropped 54%, to 1.08 billion Euros. The bank"s impairment charges dropped to their lowest level since 2008, when the bankruptcy of American bank "Lehman Brothers Holdings" Inc occurred.
The gross profit of the bank"s corporate & investment banking division dropped 7.3%, to 1.28 billion Euros. Analysts were only expecting 1.19 billion Euros. The decline was caused by volatile conditions on the financial markets.
In the second quarter of 2010, the French retail division of BNP posted a profit before taxes of 479 million Euros, compared to 414 million Euros in the April June 2009 period.
The purchase of "Fortis" by BNP, during the climax of the world financial crisis, has so far led to synergies of 402 million Euros, out of the total of 900 million estimated by 2012.
"BNP Paribas" successfully passed the stress tests that European banks were subjected to, and the event of "the most pessimistic scenario", the bank would have over 20 billion Euros in excess capital. The total exposure of the BNP in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy amounted to 34 billion Euros at the end of March.
Alina Vasiescu (Translated by Cosmin Ghidoveanu)
The profit of "BNP Paribas" SA, the largest French bank, increased 31% in Q2 2010, compared to Q2 2009, due to lower bad loan provisions.
The bank"s net profit reached 2.11 billion Euros (2.76 billion dollars), whereas analysts were expecting only 1.61 billion Euros.
During the reporting period, the bank"s bad loan provisions dropped 54%, to 1.08 bill
