* UBS posts bigger than expected Q2 loss
* BNP Paribas net profit up 7 percent, says "relatively positive"
* Standard Chartered profits up 10 percent, raises $1.7 bln
* UniCredit Q2 net income 490 million eur, beats forecasts
* UBS shares drop 4 percent, StanChart falls 7 percent, BNP flat (Adds Unicredit results, updates shares)
By Lisa Jucca and Steve Slater
ZURICH/LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Rising profit from BNP Paribas, Unicredit and Standard Chartered raised hopes that European banks were over the worst of the financial crisis, and even a big loss from UBS masked its best underlying performance in two years.
The biggest concern for UBS Sarasin analyst Reiner Skierka said UBS's overall results were "quite good",
but he remained cautious on the bank's future until it could reverse the outflow
of clients' cash. BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank by market value, posted a 6.6 percent
rise in net profit, while Asia-focused Standard Chartered revealed a record
pretax result. UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank by market value, outdid expectations with a
second quarter net profit of 490 million euros ($705 million), up 10 percent
from the previous quarter. The rise was on the back of improved trading profit
to aid the bank's recovery from its exposure to recession-hit eastern Europe. StanChart also sold shares worth $1.7 billion so it could take advantage of
opportunities in China and India as their economies recovered. "It's about staying ahead of the game," Chief Executive Peter Sands said.
"Given that we see Asia having a shorter and shallower recession than other
parts of the world, our clients are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel." BNP Paribas's CEO also sounded a more confident note. "I am relatively positive about the markets," he said. Other European banks have also recently reported profits to the end of June,
including HSBC and Barclays in Britain and Switzerland's Credit Suisse.
WINNERS AND LOSERS UBS was not the only European bank announcing losses on Tuesday. Northern
Rock, a victim of the credit crunch that was nationalised by the British
government in early 2008, said its first-half losses had grown by a quarter. The bank said it was hit by rising funding and hedging costs and said
mortgage arrears were still growing despite an improvement in early-stage
arrears. CEO Gary Hoffman said the bank was constrained by capital, and future
developments hinged on unemployment levels and a revival in property prices. VTB, Russia's second biggest lender, also reported a bigger-than-expected
net loss of 20.5 billion roubles ($656 million) for the first quarter as loan
provisions rose faster than expected. The bank said it did not expect to return
to profit this year. Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday agreed to sell some of
its Asian assets to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for $550
million, as the bank shrinks its global footprint and retreats to its core
markets. Banking shares were mostly lower, with the DJ Stoxx banking index edging
down 0.6 percent. UBS and VTB were down more than 4 percent, while BNP Paribas added 0.3
percent. StanChart fell 7.5 percent, which analysts put down to its fundraising. RBS shares were higher after news of the asset sale to ANZ.
(Additional reporting by Reuters bureaus in Europe and Asia, editing by Will
Waterman and Jason Neely)
($1=1.061 Swiss Franc)
($1=31.24 roubles)