BNP Paribas Wealth and Asset Management arm has reported a fall in its Q3 2020 pre-tax profit, amid a challenging market. The group performance too suffered but surpassed analyst expectations, driven by trading boom.
Key Wealth and Asset Management metrics
The division’s pre-tax income was €146m ($170.8m) for the three-month-period ending September 2020, a fall of 14% compared to €170m in the same quarter of 2019.
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Gross operating income decreased to €136m from €154m.
The impact of a low-interest-rate environment on Wealth Management coupled with the pandemic’s impact on Real Estate Services led to a 9% year-on-year decrease in the unit’s revenues to €734m.
Operating expenses dropped 8% to €598m, driven by a fall in Real Estate Services costs and transformation measures mainly in Asset Management.
Total assets under management (AuM) reached €1.11trn at the end of September 2020.
The figure marks a 1% fall from the December-end 2019, driven by a strong fall in the financial markets in Q1 2020, offset by a rebound in Q2 and Q3.
AuM broke down as follows: Asset Management (€474bn, including €29bn from Real Estate Investment Management), Wealth Management (€380bn) and Insurance (€256bn).
Net inflows reached €30.4bn in the year-to-date. The firm attributed the performance to Asset Management’s “very strong” inflows in money-market as well as medium and long-term vehicles and good Wealth Management inflows in Europe and Asia.
Group highlights
At a group level, the French bank’s attributable net income for the three months to September 2020 was €1.89bn, down 2% from €1.94bn.
The group’s pre-tax income dipped 5% €2.67bn from €2.8bn over the period. Revenues remained almost stable at €10.88bn.
The performance was supported by the Corporate and Institutional Banking unit, which registered a 17% year-on-year growth in revenue. Fixed-income trading revenue surged 36%.
BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafé said: “In an economic context featuring different dynamics across regions and sectors, BNP Paribas demonstrates its high resilience thanks to its financial solidity, its diversification, and the power of execution of its platforms.”
