It said pre-tax earnings to 31 March were EUR 354m ($483m), against EUR 71m in the previous year.

Loan-loss provisioning was down substantially at EUR 59m, after it set aside EUR 307m in the corresponding period of 2013.

The bank's restructuring unit continued to wind down its assets.

It cut EUR 13bn from its books in 2013 and disposed of another EUR 2bn in the first quarter.

The