Troubled Italian bank UniCredit exceeds profit forecasts

MILAN (AP) — UniCredit, the top Italian bank that has been struggling to improve its financial strength, said Wednesday that its second-quarter profits beat expectations, jumping 75 percent thanks to the sale of investments and cost cuts.

"The results of the test did not come as a surprise to us," UniCredit's new CEO, Jean Pierre Mustier, told investors.

Since being named in June to improve profitability and the bank's capital structure, Mustier has sold interests in Polish bank Pekao and Fineco internet banking subsidiaries, reorganized management, and promised to present a full business review to investors by the end of the year.