Despite current market conditions, BNP Paribas continues to grow profitability, in sharp contrast with the lower earnings of many of its rivals. The bank’s 21% net profit growth in this year’s third quarter builds on its great performance in 2006, when net profits increased by 24% and shareholders obtained an RoE of more than 21% – a ratio that grew steadily in the previous three years. During the past three years, earning per share grew at a compound rate of 23%. Revenues accelerated growth in 2006 with a 13.5% increase, higher than the 11.2% growth registered in 2005. In particular, retail operations reached the highest revenue growth on the French market in the past three years, at 15.4%.
France has not been the only successful market for BNP Paribas. Thanks to the acquisition of BNL Group, Italy has become BNP’s second domestic market.
Growth ambitions have been carefully balanced with a prudent risk policy, which recently produced a credit rating upgrade to AA+ by Standard and Poor’s.
The bank’s size and strength have also been improved. Assets grew 14% to €1440bn while Tier 1 capital grew by 19% to more than €34bn.
