BNP Paribas has surprised banking analysts by posting one of its best ever quarterly results for its advisory and capital markets division due to strong performance in fixed income and equity derivatives.

During the first quarter of 2003 the investment bank generated €1.06bn ($1.2bn) in net banking income, a 54% increase on the previous quarter and a 9.1% increase on the same period last year. It is only the third time that the advisory and capital markets division has posted more than one billion in quarterly net banking income.