HVB Group, the German lender owned by Italy's UniCredit Group, reported a 58% rise in pre-tax profits from its markets and investment banking division to about €1.4bn ($2bn) in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period a year earlier.

The bank said the division's performance benefited from a rise of €291m in operating profits and a gain of €219m from the sale of Indexchange, the German exchange-traded fund provider, to Barclays Global Investors.