BNP Paribas has neared a deal with US prosecutors that would see the French bank pay US$8bil to US$9bil and accept other punitive measures for violating American sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba between 2002 and 2009 by handling up to US$100bil's worth of transactions with them - AFP Photo.
PARIS: BNP Paribas reported an 8% rise in quarterly net profit, as an asset sale and cost cuts helped compensate for a goodwill impairment in Turkey and weakness in its markets-related unit.
The French bank was no exception to major declines in bond trading revenue that hit its rivals due to reduced client activity and low market volatility compared to a year ago, when Brexit and the US election led to market turbulence.
“BNP Paribas reported in the third quarter good business development in an improved economic environment in Europe,” the bank said in a statement. “However, the market context this quarter was unfavourable for the market activities”.
Overall, revenues fell 1.8% to 10.39 billion euros (US$12.1 billion) over the quarter, below the 10.6 billion euros expected by analysts. Revenues were weighed down by adverse foreign exchange movements.
Fixed income trading fell 26%, worse than US rivals which on average saw a 22% fall in FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) operations, but better than a slump of more than 30% in that area at European peers such as UBS, Deutsche Bank and Barclays.
Third-quarter net income stood at 2.04 billion euros, above the 1.9 billion euros expected by analysts, boosted by a sale of a stake in Indian insurance company SBI Life.
The accounting gain also helped offset a 172 million euros goodwill impairment on its TEB Bank in Turkey where the Turkish lira depreciated by 20% versus the euro year-on-year. - Reuters
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