ABN Amro issued a bullish forecast for the year after a strong performance in its equities and financial markets divisions helped the Dutch bank turn a €20m ($23m) net loss in investment banking in the first three months of 2003 into a €110m profit in the second quarter.

Revenues at ABN Amro's wholesale clients division, which focuses on investment banking, increased by 13% to €1.3bn from €1.1bn in the previous quarter. While revenues were still below the €1.4bn income reported in the second quarter of 2002, a 75% reduction in loan loss provisions drove the division back into the black.