PARIS: French bank Societe Generale said Thursday it had booked an "excellent" third quarter when strong revenue from corporate and investment banking and lower bad loans enabled it to nearly double its net profit.

"The Societe Generale group enjoyed an excellent quarter, with strong commercial and financial performances in all the businesses and improvement of the cost-income ratio," said chief executive Frederic Oudea.

"The group also continued to benefit from the quality of its loan portfolio, with a low cost of risk combined with a continued very prudent provisioning policy."

Net profit jumped to 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the July-September period from 862 million euros a year earlier.

Net banking income, which is the sector's equivalent of revenue, was up 14.9 percent at 6.67 billion euros.

By division, Societe Generale said its domestic high street branches lifted net profit by 59 percent to 451 million euros and its overall retail banking and financial services division reported an increase of 73 percent to 584 million euros.

The investment banking division booked a rise of 48 percent to 563 million euros. Societe Generale said its commercial cost of risk "stood at a low level" at 196 million euros, compared with 518 million euros in the July-September period a year earlier.