Crédit Agricole SA posts better than expected results in Q3 – archyworldys

PARIS (Reuters) – Crédit Agricole SA on Wednesday posted better-than-expected quarterly profit, supported by the decline in the cost of risk linked to the pandemic and by revenue growth from its retail banking activities, particularly in Italy after the acquisition of Creval at the start of the year.

France’s second-largest listed bank recorded a 43.5% increase in net profit over the July-September period to 1.40 billion euros, exceeding the consensus of 1.23 billion established by Refinitiv based on estimates of ‘analysts.

Its quarterly net banking income (NBI) increased 7.4% to 5.53 billion euros – a figure also above the consensus of 5.46 billion – while the cost of credit risk, which reflects provisions for bad debts, decreased by 56.1% compared to the third quarter of 2020.

At a press conference, Crédit Agricole SA Chief Executive Officer Philippe Brassac confirmed that the bank was on track to meet its 2022 targets, including a net profit of five billion euros.

“Nothing pushes us today to reverse our goal,” he said.

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