UniCredit bank's second-quarter profit jumps 30 percent as Italian economy improves

Italian bank UniCredit says its second-quarter profit jumped 30 percent as provisions for bad loans dropped amid a recovery in Italy's economy.

UniCredit reported net profit of 522 million euros (568 million euros) for the three months ended June 30 against 403 million euros in the same period of 2014. Revenue was flat at 5.7 billion euros.

UniCredit CEO Federico Ghizzoni called the first-half profit, which exceeded 1 billion euros, "an excellent result" in an unfavorable banking environment with interest rates at historic lows.

The bank said the percentage of impaired loans fell 9 percent to 913 billion euros.

Shares in UniCredit SpA were up 5 percent to 6.29 euros.