Italian bank Intesa SanPaolo sees Q2 profits dip slightly

MILAN (AP) - Italian bank Intesa SanPaolo says its second-quarter profit dipped thanks to the sale of investments and as revenue fell only slightly despite tough market conditions and a subdued economy.

Italy's second-largest bank by assets said Tuesday that net income dropped 4 percent to 901 million euros ($1 billion) in the three months through June, compared with a year earlier.

Net fees and commission income and interest income each dipped 4 percent to 1.8 billion euros. Trading profit rose 22 percent.

The bank reported that its load of non-performing loans dropped for the third straight quarter.

Intesa was one of the best-capitalized banks in the recent stress tests of EU banks. CEO Carlo Messina told analysts that the result confirms that Intesa SanPaolo "is a very low-risk bank."