PARIS (Reuters) - BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, French largest listed bank, posted higher third quarter profits that met market forecasts, as a relatively strong performance at its international services unit offset weakness at its investment banking and retail bank arms.
Third quarter net profit rose 4 percent from last year to 2.12 billion euros (1.88 billion pounds). Analysts surveyed by Financial Inquiry expected a profit of 2.11 billion.
Overall, group revenues dipped 0.4 percent to 10.35 billion euros, below the 10.61 billion euros expected by analysts.
Revenues at BNP Paribas' retail banks in France, Belgium and Italy remained weak as a result of persistently low interest rates, while revenue from its corporate and investment banking (CIB) unit fell again due to an adverse trading environment.
BNP Paribas' international financial services arm, which has been its growth engine in past quarters and includes consumer lending and U.S. and emerging market retail banks, slowed down in the third quarter mainly due to the depreciation of the Turkish lira.
($1 = 0.8788 euros)
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Matthieu Protard; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
