With US regulators levying a near $9bn penalty for sanctions violations on the last day of the quarter, it was always going to be a noteworthy set of results for BNP Paribas for all the wrong reasons.
The French bank on Thursday posted a net loss of €4.3bn for the three months ended in June, its largest ever, after taking a €6bn charge in connection with the case, most of which had been previously disclosed.
BNP Paribas said it was implementing “major changes” to its compliance functions in the wake of the US enforcement action, creating a new group supervisory and control committee, chaired by chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, and a new “conduct” committee tasked with monitoring its policies in sensitive areas, after pleading guilty in June to conspiring to violate sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and other countries blacklisted by the US.
But hey, let’s look on the bright side, shall we? BNP Paribas certainly is, hailing its underlying performance as “very good” (excluding, of course, those huge one-off charges) and pointing again toward its “rock solid” balance sheet.
Across the group, revenues dipped 2 per cent, to €9.6bn, while operating expenses spiked 4 per cent, to €6.5bn.
Said Mr Bonnafé: “The group’s financial statements include this quarter the very significant impact of one-off items, related to the costs linked to the comprehensive settlement with the US authorities.
“The group has learned lessons from these past events and is implementing a major reinforcement of its internal control.”
