French banks in deep red at Paris Stock Exchange on the day of the publication of the first quarter data: Crédit Agricole loses 8,8%, Société Générale is down 5,7%, BNP Paribas The sector's performance was down 4%. The strong volatility triggered by the war in Iran weighed on the sector's performance. BNP Paribas recorded provisions of €922 million, above the €888 million expected by the market, partly due to the "geopolitical context," while the war weighed on SocGen's fixed-income trading activities.
Record net profit for BNP Paribas
Bnp Paribas has archived the first quarter with a Record net profit up 9% to 3,2 billion euros. Bank interest income increased 8,5% year-on-year from January to March, exceeding 14 billion. Asset management, insurance, and savings activities surged 32,8% to 1,9 billion. The group also achieved operating cost savings, with operating expenses increasing 5,5% to 8,7 billion.
Le commercial banks(France, Belgium, Italy), along with consumer credit and online banking, saw net banking income increase 4,9% year-over-year, reaching €6,8 billion. Revenue from commercial banks alone grew by nearly 8%.
Société Générale's profits also rise
Net profit on the rise also for Société Générale, which closed the first quarter with 1,7 billion in profits (+5,5%), thanks to the performance of its retail banking activities in France and internationally, the bank explains in a note.
“The methodical and rigorous execution of our strategic plan allows us to look to the future with confidence,” commented the Group's CEO, Slawomir Krupa.
Returning to the data, in the January-March period, net interest income remained essentially stable (+0,3%) at €7,1 billion. International retail banking and the mobility division closed the quarter with a net profit of €365 million, up 14,5% year-over-year, while the corporate and investment banking division saw its net profit decline by 9,7%, reaching €773 million.
