Commerzbank Second-Quarter Profit Doubles

Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest bank, said Thursday that its second-quarter profit doubled on gains from the sale of its asset management business Jupiter.

The Frankfurt-based bank earned 768 million euros ($1.05 billion) in the April-June period compared with 285 million euros a year ago, beating the 726 million euros ($1 billion) that analysts polled by Dow Jones News had predicted.

The results reflected the sale of its Jupiter asset management business.

The bank said that its net interest income in the second quarter slipped slightly to 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion) from 1.06 billion euros while its net commission income rose to 758 million euros ($1.04 billion) from 677 million euros. Its trading profit rose to 381 million euros ($525.55 million) from 337 million euros.

"Almost all business lines contributed to the rise in profits. This proves that we continue to meet our combined objectives of keeping costs under control, whilst pursuing our organic growth programs," Chief Executive Klaus Peter Mueller said in a statement.