BNP Paribas today said third-quarter profit rose 45 per cent, helped by the purchase of Fortis assets and a rebound at the investment bank.
France's largest bank rose as much as 1.9 per cent in Paris trading after reporting net income of €1.31 billion, higher than the €1.26 billion median estimate of 13 analysts surveyed.
The bank, like New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co, took advantage of competitors' woes to make takeovers during the financial crisis.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Baudouin Prot, BNP Paribas became the biggest by deposits in the euro region with the €10.4 billion purchase of Fortis's banking units in Belgium and Luxembourg this year.
BNP Paribas "is one of the winners of the crisis," said Jaap Meijer, a London-based analyst at
Evolution Securities. "BNP Paribas has no issues with toxic assets, it's extremely well covered for bad loans and it's well capitalised."
Bloomberg