The underlying profits of the ABN Amro units bought by Fortis rose 17% to €1.35bn, the Belgian-Dutch financial services group said on Thursday.

Fortis acquired ABN Amro’s Dutch retail banking unit and its wealth and asset management operations. Including extraordinary items, such as the sale of Bouwfonds in 2006, net profit was down 29% at €1.4bn, Fortis said.
Fortis CEO Jean-Paul Votron said he expected the integration of the asset management group to be completed over the next few weeks, followed by private banking by the end of the year. The retail and corporate activities will be integrated at the end of 2009. ‘We are on course,’ Votron said.
ABN Amro was bought last year by a consortium made up of Fortis, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander.
In its last results presentation on Thursday, ABN Amro said it had been forced to write off €1.56bn because of the US credit crisis. Without the write-off, full-year net profit would have been up 19% at €2.9bn.