French bank BNP Paribas said on Friday it had completed 80% of a restructuring plan intended to distance it from Europe's continuing debt crisis and posted firmly higher first-quarter net profit.

The Paris-based lender, France's largest bank by market value, reported a 10% rise in first-quarter net profit, as a capital gain from the sale of more than half its stake in real-estate firm Klepierre offset pressure on revenue at its corporate and investment bank.