Societe Generale quarterly profits triple
Quarterly profits at Societe Generale have more than tripled after what it called an "excellent performance" in its retail banking division.
The French bank said net profit for the three months to June came in at 1.08bn euros ($1.4bn; £900m) compared with a profit of 309m euros a year ago.
The result comfortably beat analysts' forecasts of a 732m euro profit.
But the bank warned that economic recovery was still fragile and growth prospects in Europe remained moderate.
For the first six months of the year, the group reported a net profit of 2.15bn euros.
"[The first half of 2010] testifies to the group's new commercial momentum with an excellent performance from retail banking activities and a satisfactory contribution to the results from corporate and investment banking despite a challenging market environment," chief executive Frederic Oudea said.
Shares in SocGen were up 1.5% in morning trade.