BNP Paribas: net profit climbs 13.5% in third quarter

The BNP Paribas bank published on Wednesday a net profit up 13.5% in the third quarter, to 3.4 billion euros, driven by the financing and investment bank whose activities grew by 16.6%. The group, which will present its strategic plan for 2030 on February 2, also posted between July and September a net banking income (NBI, equivalent of turnover in this industry) of 13.7 billion euros, an increase of 9.5% over one year. Both net profit and GNP were slightly above what expected analysts surveyed by the financial agency Bloomberg and the data provider Factset.

At the same time, management fees increased by 5.3%, to more than 8 billion euros. Managing Director Jean-Laurent Bonnafé welcomed this “very good third quarter” driven by “the operational performances of its three divisions”, in a press release. The corporate and investment bank in fact experienced a sharp increase in its revenues, which reached 5.2 billion euros over the quarter, driven by the equity markets and securities custody activities.

The division encompassing commercial banks and specialized businesses achieves a NBI of 6.8 billion euros, up 3.6% with contrasting contributions. » READ ALSO - “More than 40% of managers are women”: BNP Paribas is betting on an “in-house” profile to manage its human resources Contrasting trends Commercial banks (France, Belgium, Italy, etc.) saw their revenues grow by 9.2% over the quarter, to 4.7 billion euros, the good commercial dynamic adding to the increase in financial commissions.

On the other hand, within specialized businesses, automobile leasing is still suffering from the fall in the price of used vehicles, which is causing its revenues to fall by almost 30%. The asset management, insurance and savings businesses saw their revenues increase by 4.3%, to 2.5 billion euros, continuing the integration of Axa's asset management activities, Axa IM, whose acquisition was finalized in 2025. In the second quarter, the banking giant's net profit jumped 33.4% year-on-year, to 4.3 billion euros.

The cost of risk, that is to say the sums set aside to deal with possible unpaid debts on loans granted, increased by 59 million euros over one year to reach 964 million euros. The group holds 19 billion euros of French sovereign debt. BNP Paribas still does not include any provision in its accounts for litigation that could cost it dearly in the United States, where the bank lost a major lawsuit at the end of October.

The group was recognized as complicit in abuses in Sudan, by having organized commercial transactions whose proceeds financed the army and militias of the Omar al-Bashir regime. The bank filed arguments against its conviction with a New York appeals court on May 22.

Machine-translated from French