BNP bid for SocGen not ruled out

BNP's losses from the sub-prime crisis are less than those at rivals

BNP Paribas has refused to rule out a bid for rival Societe Generale, the French bank reeling from a rogue trading scandal.

BNP's Chief Executive Baudouin Prot told BBC News that Societe Generale was "an important player in the industry".

But Mr Prot said market volatility made the situation difficult to assess.

Mr Prot also said he was personally checking the bank's risk controls on a weekly basis in the light of what happened at Societe Generale.

"We have a strong risk control culture at BNP Paribas," he said. "We have 2,480 people only dedicated to risk control, compliance or audit. This number has increased 21% since 2005."

"That being said, we are reviewing everything and there is work in progress," he added.

BNP said earlier that its fourth-quarter net profit fell 42% to 1.006bn euros ($1.5bn), in line with guidance given last month.

BNP Paribas announced 898m euros in write-downs, which compares favourably to some of the bigger investment banks hit harder by the credit crisis.