Net earnings per share for the first quarter were EUR2.12, up 13.6% from the prior year.
BNP said total revenue for the quarter rose 1.3% to EUR11.69bn, and its common equity tier 1 ratio improved to 9.5% from 8.3%.
The performance was driven by improving lending and deposits at its core French retail-banking unit and by inflows of EUR8.3bn into its private-banking and asset-management business.
Revenue in the group’s investment-banking arm dropped 8.6% to EUR3.46bn, and pretax profit at the unit fell 4.6% as the performance in equity and fixed-income trading deteriorated.
Cost of risk dropped 31.3% to EUR919m. Tier 1 ratio was 11.7%, up from 10.5% in the preceding year.
BNP also reiterated that it doesn’t need to raise fresh capital to meet new banking rules, known as Basel III, and said an eventual restructuring of Greece’s sovereign debt would only have a limited impact on its business.
