Investment banking profits at BNP Paribas rose 28% in the three months to the end of June to a record €1.2bn ($1.7bn), propelled by "rapid growth" in its equity capital markets business in Asia and a surge in advisory revenues.

Baudouin Prot, the BNP Paribas' chief executive, warned this morning of a "less favourable environment" in the second half of the year. The bank's advisory business has yet to receive fees for its work on the merger of French utilities Gaz de France and Suez, which remains mired in bureaucratic entanglements.