Conservatism has paid off for BNP Paribas. The eurozone’s second largest bank has avoided the toxic asset headaches of many European universal bank peers. It even turned the financial crisis to its advantage, buying the banking operations of Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg. Yet, for all its retail bias, about half of BNP’s €4.5bn third quarter net income came from its investment bank, lifting the overall figure by 45 per cent year on year.

Nothing wrong with that. However, as with Société Générale’s results the previous day, revenue from fixed income slowed from the second quarter, and BNP also reported lower equity and advisory receipts. As a precaution, both SocGen, through its purchase of the remaining stake in Crédit du Nord, and BNP, though its Fortis acquisition, have increased their exposure to more stable retail banking earnings. Furthermore, both banks are poised to expand further in the post-crisis wave of sector consolidation.