Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) beat expectations with an 11 per cent rise in half-year profit.
RBS said its underlying operating profit in the six months to the end of June was £5.1 billion, up from £4.6 billion a year before.
RBS said turbulence in global capital markets in recent weeks had not substantially hit its business, and income for its Corporate Markets business in July was ahead of a year ago.
RBS's first-half growth was led by Global Banking & Markets, its investment banking business within Corporate Markets, where profits jumped 19 per cent to £2.2 billion.
RBS is locked in a bidding war for Dutch bank ABN Amro, and RBS Chief Executive Fred Goodwin said he remained confident an RBS-led consortium will win ABN, based on its mostly cash offer of €71 billion.
That compares with a mostly shares offer from rival Barclays worth around €65 billion.