BNP Paribas beats quarterly expectations as equity trading rebounds

BNP Paribas beats quarterly expectations as equity trading rebounds

PARIS  - France's BNP Paribas on Friday reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit, helped by lower provisions for pandemic-related bad loans and a rebound in its equity trading business that the bank aims to expand.

The euro zone's biggest listed lender said net profit rose 37.9% to 1.77 billion euros ($2.14 billion) from a year earlier, beating a mean forecast for 1.20 billion in a poll of analysts compiled by Refinitiv.