PARIS (Reuters) -France’s biggest listed lender BNP Paribas posted a better-than-expected third-quarter profit on Friday on lower provisions for pandemic-related loan losses and a sharp rise in equity trading.
Like U.S. and European rivals, BNP Paribas thrived on the economic rebound to release cash set aside for pandemic losses.
BNP Paribas reported a 32.2% rise in net income from a year ago to 2.50 billion euros ($2.92 billion), beating a mean forecast for 2.23 billion euros in a poll of analysts compiled by Refinitiv.
Revenue was up 4.7% to 11.40 billion euros, above the 11.22 billion expected by analysts, while the cost of risk, reflecting provisions against bad loans, was down 43.3%.
BNP Paribas, which overtook British bank HSBC last year to become Europe’s largest bank by assets, also said it will launch a 900 million euro share buyback program on Nov. 1.
In its corporate and investment banking activities, the lender benefited from strong growth in equity trading activity with revenue up by 79.3%.
But revenue was down 28% in fixed income, currencies and commodities trading after a 43% drop in the second quarter.
“In a more lacklustre context, customer activity was lower on the rates and forex markets but remained strong on the commodities markets,” BNP Paribas said in a statement.
In its international financial services activities, which include asset and wealth management, international retail banking and insurance, revenue fell by 3% reflecting a weaker contribution from its insurance business, BNP Paribas said.
BNP Paribas shares have gained around 33% this year against a 36.53% increase for the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index.
($1 = 0.8570 euros)
(Reporting by Matthieu Protard; editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Jason Neely)
