Greece weighs, and not a little, on the accounts of one of the banks most exposed to the debt crisis in the euro area. Bnp Paribas closed the third quarter of 2011 with a profit of 541 million euros, a loss of 71,6% compared to the same period last year, due to a higher than expected burden of 2,2 billion euros on Greek debt. Analysts expected a profit of 992 million. Results lower than expected also in terms of revenues, blocked at 10 billion euros (less than the 10,48 expected by the experts), a drop of 7,6% compared to 2010.
The €2,2 billion loss recorded on the balance sheet is equivalent to 60% of the French bank's sovereign exposure to Greek debt and reflects the commitment of private sector creditors to devalue a large part of the Greek government bonds in its portfolio, yes reads in a note. But analysts didn't think it could exceed 50%.
Between July and September Bnp has reduced its government bonds of the euro area by 20,7% to 58,6 billion. Exposure to Greece decreased from 3,5 billion to 1,6, that to Italy from 20,5 billion to 12,2 and that to Spain from 2,7 billion to 0,5.
