French lenders miss out on trading boom powering Wall Street banks

bnp paribas and crédit agricole both posted higher profit for the first quarter, but they didn't catch the trading wave that lifted wall street rivals. bnp's equities revenue actually fell, while crédit agricole's corporate and investment bank revenue grew only modestly. the contrast is sharp: us banks like goldman sachs and morgan stanley rode a surge in volatility and client activity to double-digit trading gains. french lenders are more exposed to structured products and less to the kind of flow trading that boomed during tariff uncertainty and rate swings. bnp's q1 net income came in at €3.1 billion, up from €3 billion a year earlier. crédit agricole's net profit rose to €2.1 billion. both beat analyst expectations on the bottom line, but the revenue mix tells the story.