Dollar's rise in markets expected to have little impact on bank profits. (companies in position to handle increase in U.S. currency's value)

U.S. multinational banks are shrugging off the dollar's recent rise.

Bankers and analysts estimated that the dollar's climb on foreign exchange markets, mainly relative to major European currencies, would have a negligible impact on first-quarter earnings.

"Most banks with big international operations are pretty well hedged," said Raphael Soifer, a banking analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

There are other reasons banks are not likely to suffer much from currency fluctuations.

Much of the business U.S. banks do overseas, such as syndicated lending, is dollar-denominated to begin with. And some other currencies in which activity is strong, such …