BNP profits boosted by equity, fixed income revenues in Q1

A jump in revenue from BNP Paribas’ equity and fixed income trading business helped the Paris-based bank to report a larger than expected rise in profit in the first quarter.

The group on Wednesday said that revenue at its global-markets division had climbed 33 per cent from a year earlier to €1.75bn as it targets growth in the division.

This helped outweigh a 0.3 per cent decline in revenue from consumer-banking units in its main European markets, including France, Italy and Belgium. Net income was up 4.4 per cent to €1.89bn.

Equities income jumped 36 per cent, driven by “strong growth of prime services and a rebound in the derivative business,” the bank said. Revenue at the corporate and institutional banking division increased 20 per cent.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, who this year said he was aiming to increase global-markets revenue by about 5 per cent annually through 2020, said on Wednesday that the bank had a “very good performance” in the quarter.