A year after the US fine, BNP Paribas largely in the green – Les Echos

BNP Paribas was a prosperous second quarter, net income reached 2.6 billion euros, a year after its fine in the United States which led to a heavy quarterly loss, according to a statement Friday. In the second quarter 2014, BNP Paribas had indeed suffered a net loss of 4.2 billion euros, related to the heavy fine of 6.6 billion euros imposed by the United States for non-compliance with economic embargoes

Excluding items, the French bank said its net profit rose 13.7% to € 2.3 billion. This performance, driven by all businesses, is well above the expectations of analysts, who on average expected a net profit of 1.9 billion euros, according to the consensus established by the financial data provider FactSet. The group also benefited from exceptional items, including a capital gain of € 364 million from the sale of 7% of the capital of Klépierre’s real estate group.

Strong growth in skilled trades

“BNP Paribas made a very good performance this quarter. Revenues were up in all operational centers with a continuous growth in domestic markets and strong growth in skilled trades, retail banking outside the euro area and large customer operations “, welcomed the Director General, Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, said in the statement.

Net banking income (GNP) came out rose sharply by 15.8% to € 11.1 billion. It is also well above the expectations of analysts, who had forecast a GDP of 10.6 billion euros. The strong growth in activity is partly due to the contribution of acquisitions made in 2014, the Polish bank BGZ.

acquisitions Contribution

Mechanically, this widening of the scope of the group also helped boost its 11.2% management fee, to 7.1 billion euros, but less significantly than the gain in terms income. The acquisitions made in 2014 are also mechanically increase the cost of risk of the banking group, up 5.6% year on year, to 903 million euros. Excluding this scope effect, it is slightly down

The high level of profits has further enabled BNP Paribas to strengthen its financial strength. Late June its ratio of funds own “hard” (“common equity Tier 1″ Basel 3) – which corresponds to contributions from shareholders and retained earnings reported in the credit granted – reached 10.6%, up 30 basis points from the same quarter precedent.

With AFP