BNP: Better than expected results, driven by the recovery and the stock market – Boursorama

PARIS (Reuters) – BNP Paribas reported better-than-expected third-quarter profit on Friday, thanks to lower provisions on bad debts linked to the coronavirus pandemic and a sharp rise in income from trading in equities.

France’s leading bank, which also overtook HSBC last year to become Europe’s largest bank by assets, reported a 32.2% increase in net profit in the quarter compared to the year before, to 2.50 billion euros, exceeding the consensus of 2.23 billion according to Refinitiv data.

Net banking income (NBI) increased by 4.7% to reach 11.40 billion euros, while the cost of risk – which reflects the potential exposure to non-repayment of loans – fell by 43.3% .

Like its American and European rivals, BNP Paribas took advantage of the economic rebound to reduce the amount of provisions that had been set aside during the pandemic.

The bank also benefited from strong growth in the stock trading activity, with revenues up 79.3%.

The group, which will present its new strategic plan when it publishes its annual results on February 8, 2022, will also launch on November 1 a share buyback plan of 900 million euros.

(Report Matthieu Protard, French version Jean-Michel Bélot, edited by Jean Terzian and Blandine Hénault)