Société Générale posted a 63 per cent fall in second-quarter net profit, hit by losses at its corporate and investment banking unit in the credit crunch, Frances' second-biggest bank by market value said today.
The bank, still in the shadow of the world's worst rogue trader scandal as magistrates examine what went wrong and who knew what, said net profit fell to €644 million ($1 billion).
Last year the bank made a second-quarter net profit of €1.74 billion.
Eighteen analysts polled by Reuters gave an average net profit forecast of €518 million. Forecasts had ranged widely, with some expecting an overall group loss, while others had forecast a net profit of around €1 billion.
Gross operating profit fell 42 per cent to €1.627 billion, ahead of an average forecast of €1.33 billion.
SocGen is the latest big bank to post lower profits as a result of the global credit crunch, with its investment banking unit taking a €1.2 billion hit in the second quarter.
Yesterday, Europe's biggest bank HSBC revealed a 28 per cent fall in first-half pretax profit, while US banks Merrill Lynch and Citigroup posted huge second-quarter losses last month.
SocGen had higher profits at its international retail banking and consumer credit businesses, which helped counter the investment banking loss.
SocGen is also trying to battle back from the effect of the rogue trading scandal. In January, the bank unveiled €4.9 billion of losses it said were caused by rogue deals carried out by Jerome Kerviel, a 31-year old junior trader at the bank.
Mr Kerviel was freed from prison in March after an appeal against his detention but he remains under formal investigation for breach of trust, computer abuse and falsification.
The losses from the Kerviel affair forced SocGen to raise €5.5 billion through a rights issue and led many analysts to regard the bank as a takeover target, although SocGen has consistently said it aims to remain independent.