Earnings were boosted by a strong performance in the bank’s asset management and services, and corporate and investment banking divisions, which rose 22% and 24%, respectively. Meanwhile, gross operating income increased 13.8%, while operating expenses jumped 13% to E4.85 billion.
The bank also said that, as a result of the good credit quality of its customer base and a prudent risk policy, the group managed to avoid a negative impact upon its results by the US subprime mortgage crisis. According to Reuters, BNP Paribas revealed that its US retail bank business BankWest had a very limited exposure to the US subprime market.
