Gruppo Intesa, Italy's largest banking group, has turned around last year's disastrous fourth quarter results caused by the fallout from the Parmalat scandal, by posting the highest first quarter net income for over a year.

Intesa became embroiled in the dairy giant's collapse after its asset management arm, Nextra Investment Management, became the sole investor on a €300m ($378m) bond issued by the group in June 2003.