法国巴黎银行二季度利润受交易业务推动大增，UniCredit上调全年利润目标

BNP Paribas profits surge by a third after trading boom
Quarterly profits at BNP Paribas surged by a third after its investment bankers capitalised on a trading boom, while UniCredit raised its annual profit target after posting a record first half.
France’s biggest lender reported net income of €4.3bn between April and June, a 33 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier. Revenues rose 12 per cent to €14.1bn.
A strong performance from the global markets unit helped revenues at BNP’s investment bank to jump 13 per cent on the previous year.
The 18 per cent rise in revenues in the global markets unit was driven by equity and prime services, where revenues rose 43 per cent to €1.4bn.
It comes after Wall Street banks unveiled record quarterly profits earlier this month as heightened market volatility and frenetic trading in AI-related stocks boosted their trading businesses.
While BNP’s gains were more modest than US peers, the performance is likely to reassure investors after European banks largely failed to capitalise on wild market swings during the first three months of the year.
However, during the second quarter, market volatility — particularly around semiconductor and hyperscaler stocks riding a wave of enthusiasm for AI — helped equity traders post bumper profits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite the boost to equity trading, BNP saw more modest growth in its global banking unit — which houses its advisory and capital markets businesses — with revenues up 4 per cent. The French lender said its deals pipeline “looks promising going forward”.
Revenues at BNP’s wealth, insurance and asset management division rose by more than a quarter, helped by the integration of Axa Investment Managers, which BNP acquired last year in a €5bn deal.
Its commercial and retail bank delivered revenues of €6.9bn during the quarter, up 5 per cent from a year earlier.
For several years French banks have lagged many of their European rivals in benefiting from higher interest rates because much of their mortgage lending is at fixed rates. They are now catching up after making new loans at higher rates, boosting earnings from their retail businesses.
After underperforming European peers in recent years, BNP’s share price has climbed by almost a third this year, making it one of the industry’s best performers.
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, BNP’s chief executive, said the overall performance was driven partly by the “acceleration of [its] transformation, particularly in artificial intelligence”.
Meanwhile, UniCredit raised its full-year profit target after posting a record first half as it presses ahead with its takeover of German rival Commerzbank.
The Milan-based lender said on Thursday it expected net profit to exceed €11bn this year. It also lifted its forecasts for 2028 and 2030 to more than €13bn and €15bn respectively, before the full consolidation of Commerzbank.
The upgrade followed continued revenue growth despite weaker quarterly profit. Revenue rose 6.6 per cent year on year to €6.5bn in the three months to June 30, driven by a 14.3 per cent increase in fees and insurance income.
Net profit fell 13.1 per cent to €2.9bn over the period, weighed down in part by a €245mn charge linked to hedging and funding UniCredit’s increased Commerzbank stake.
UniCredit has built a near-48 per cent holding in the German lender — equivalent to almost 50 per cent of the voting rights — after investors tendered 17.6 per cent of Commerzbank shares into its takeover offer.
UniCredit said full consolidation would initially reduce its common equity tier one ratio by about 200 basis points to roughly 13 per cent, but argued the deal would be earnings accretive and support double-digit net profit growth between 2026 and 2028.