WRAPUP 3-BNP profits jump as German rivals show pain

* BNP Q3 net profit 1.3 bln euros, up 45 pct

* Commerzbank continues to expect loss 2009, 2010

* Postbank has worse-than-expected loss

* BNP shares up 2.3 pct, Commerzbank down 3.9 pct

(Recasts, adds details, updates shares)

By Edward Taylor and Sudip Kar-Gupta

FRANKFURT/PARIS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - France's BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) beat forecasts with a strong rise in quarterly profits, enhancing its status as one of the winners from the banking crisis just as Germany's Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) slipped further into the red.

BNP Paribas profits were powered by investment banking and acquisitions, while loan defaults from a souring economy meant Commerzbank, with its focus on retail banking and loans to midsized firms, faced losses this year and the next.

The lack of sizeable investment banking operations has left Commerzbank and rival German lender Deutsche Postbank (DPBGn.DE) without a profit engine that has recently boosted the earnings of Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.VX).

BNP, the eurozone's second-largest bank by market value after Spain's Santander SA (SAN.MC), was spurred by assets it acquired from Fortis SA/NV (FOR.BR) and by grabbing market share in investment banking and wealth management, taking advantage of problems at rivals such as UBS AG (UBSN.VX).

"BNP Paribas is becoming a cash machine generating over 5 billion euros in annual retained earnings," said Kian Abouhossein, analyst at JPMorgan.

Its net profit rose 45 percent from a year ago to 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion). [ID:nL4683594]

By 1227 GMT BNP shares were up 2.3 percent at 53.8 euros, bucking a weak start by European banks. The DJ Stoxx European bank index .SX7P was down 0.8 percent, but is still up about 48 percent year to date and over 150 percent since March.

Shares in Commerzbank were down 3.94 percent.

BNP is among a handful of banks, led by the likes of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan (JPM.N), Barclays Plc (BARC.L) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), taking advantage of the disruption across the banking landscape in the past two years.

The crisis has led many rivals to retreat and others such as ING Group NV (ING.AS), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS.L) and Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY.L) to take billions of euros in state help and face break-ups.