A jump in revenues from its lending arm helped BNP Paribas corporate and investment banking offset the industry-wide slump in sales and trading that has dragged down earnings at many of its peers.

Pre-tax profit at BNP CIB was down 7% on the same period last year at €1.3bn. This compares favourably to the majority of its rivals, whose business models are more geared towards sales and trading and less towards corporate lending. Gross operating income at French peer Société Générale, which reported yesterday, was down 45% at €885m.