The French mutual banking group BPCE announced Thursday a net profit in the first quarter up 43.1% year on year, to 785 million euros, thanks to the good commercial dynamics of all of its businesses.
The January-March period bore witness to solid results which demonstrate the strength of the group’s diversified model despite an uncertain context, indicated the chairman of the management board Laurent Mignon during a press conference, in particular with reference to the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia on February 24.
Net banking income (NBI), equivalent to turnover for the sector, rose to 6.6 billion euros (+7.5%) over the first three months of the year.
We will continue to implement our strategic plan with particular attention to our objectives in terms of financing the energy transition of our customers, also specified Laurent Mignon. BPCE is now organized into two divisions, both growing: the first centered on retail banking, with the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne networks and even insurance activities, and the second called Global Financial Services, housing the so-called global, including asset management from the Natixis bank.
Very limited exposures to the Russian Federation and Ukraine
The bank took the opportunity to indicate that its exposures were very limited to the Russian Federation and Ukraine. They amounted to 808 million euros at March 31. The mutualist group also ceased all new financing activity in Russia and provisioned 69 million euros over the quarter for Russian and Ukrainian counterparties. The total cost of risk amounted to 424 million euros, down 13.5% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
The core capital ratio (CET1), a key indicator that measures the capacity to overcome a possible crisis, was at the end of March significantly higher than regulatory requirements, at 15.2%. BPCE has contributed around 600 million euros to the Single Resolution Fund (FRU), a European system funded by banks and intended to help an institution in the sector in the event of bankruptcy. Over the whole of 2021, BPCE had made a record net profit of 4 billion euros, the highest in the history of the bank.
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BPCE publishes its quarterly results a week after its competitors. Last week, BNP Paribas published a net profit of 2.1 billion euros over the first three months of the year, almost as much as the following two combined: Crédit Agricole, with 1.33 billion euros, and Socit Gnrale , with 0.84 billion.
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