BNP Paribas Quarterly Profit Falls 34%

BNP Paribas, France's biggest listed bank, reported a 34 percent fall in second quarter net profit on Wednesday, although the earnings were slightly ahead of the consensus forecast.

Net profit fell to 1.505 billion euros ($2.33 billion) from 2.282 billion a year earlier, mainly due to a sharp fall in profits at its corporate and investment banking arm to 523 million from 1.22 billion a year earlier. This was after an overall negative impact of 542 million euros on counterparty risks for debt insurers that were affected by the credit crunch.

Eighteen analysts polled by Reuters gave an average forecast for net profit of 1.477 billion euros.

On Tuesday, rival French bank Societe Generale posted a 63 percent fall in second quarter net profit which was also above the consensus forecast.

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