Stock market recovery and lower costs at its insurance business translated into a near €1.5bn ($1.8bn) first quarter turnaround for Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch financial services group. It climbed from a net loss of €453m last year to a profit of €1.03bn in the three months to March.

Insurance activites saw net operating profits of €1.12bn compared with a loss of €706m in the first quarter last year and net operating profits for banking increased by 82% to €653m compared with the first quarter last year.