Full-year 2024 and Q4-24 results of Groupe BPCE
STRONG PERFORMANCES IN 2024
• Excellent performance in Q4-24 •
• Net income (Group share) of €3.5bn in 2024, strong growth of 26% •
• VISION 2030: dynamic implementation of the strategic project •
KEY FIGURES1
Q4-24: net banking income at €6bn, up +11% YoY; very good performance achieved by retail banking and the global businesses; net income of €913m, +140% YoY
2024: net banking income of €23.3bn, 5% growth YoY driven by all the business lines; gross operating income up by a strong 18% notably thanks to good cost control; reported net income2 of €3.5bn, up by 26% YoY
Very high levels of solvency and liquidity with a CET1 ratio of 15.6%3 and a LCR of 142%4 at end-2024
BUSINESS LINES5
RETAIL BANKING & INSURANCE Sharp 14% growth in revenues in Q4-24 and 4% in 2024 driven in particular by the confirmed rebound in net interest margins and commissions. The Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne retail banking networks enjoyed sustained growth in their customer bases with the addition of 846,000 new clients6 in 2024
- Local & regional financing: €84bn of funding for our clients of individual, professional, corporate, and institutional clients; 1% year-on-year growth in loan outstandings, rising to a total of €724bn at end-December 2024
- Deposits & savings7 up by €5bn year-on-year, reaching a total of €681bn at end-December 2024
- Insurance: gross inflows8 of €14.9bn in life insurance in 2024. Premiums up 15% in 2024 YoY. The equipment rate9 for P&C and Personal Protection insurance stood at ~35% at end-December 2024
- Financial Solutions & Expertise: net banking income remained stable in Q4-24 and rose by 2% in full-year 2024 vs. a high basis of comparison in 2023. Good performance reported by the Leasing and Consumer Credit activities
- Digital & Payments: +5% growth in the number of card transactions at end-December 2024 YoY. Oney net banking income up 8% in full-year 2024
GLOBAL FINANCIAL SERVICES Strong revenue growth, +8% in Q4-24 and full-year 2024; very dynamic business development in Corporate & Investment Banking, net banking income up 5% in Q4-24 year-on-year; very good performance achieved by Asset Management with net banking income up 11% in Q4-24 year-on-year
- Corporate & Investment Banking: net banking income of €1.1bn in Q4-24; +19% growth in revenues in Q4-24 YoY for Global Markets, driven by the Fixed-income and Equity segments; net banking income up 2% for Global Finance, driven in particular by Trade Finance activities, and up by 6% for Investment Banking activities in Q4-24
- Asset & Wealth Management: Natixis IM's assets under management up 13% YtD, reaching an all-time high of €1,317bn at end-December 2024; very high net fund inflows of €40bn in full-year 2024, particularly from Fixed-Income expertise; net banking income of €968m in Q4-24, reflecting strong growth of 11% YoY.
P&L/ CAPITAL5
Expenses remained stable year-on-year in 2024 and good improvement in the cost/income by 3.5pp
Prudent provisioning policy: cost of risk of €2.1bn in 2024, i.e. 24bps, standing below the announced guidance level; €596 million in Q4-24, down 20% year-on-year
Financial strength: CET1 ratio of 15.6%3 at end-December 2024; liquidity reserves of €302bn
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS
VISION 2030 strategic project: fast-paced and dynamic implementation
- April 2024: announcement of the project to acquire SGEF, making Groupe BPCE the European leader in equipment leasing; completion of the transaction scheduled for Q1-25.
- June 2024: plan to create France's No. 1 payment processor in partnership with BNP Paribas with a view to becoming one of the top 3 players in Europe.
- June 2024: commercial partnerships with two leaders in their respective markets: Leroy Merlin and Verisure
- January 2025: announcement of plan to create Europe's leading asset manager in a joint venture with Generali.
- Plans to create a shared technology platform for retail banking activities
Nicolas Namias, Chairman of the Management Board of BPCE, said: “2024 marked the return of strong performance across all our business lines. Groupe BPCE saw its earnings grow by 26% over the year as a whole and by a total of 140% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Banques Populaires and Caisses d'Epargne benefited from the confirmed rebound in their net interest margin along with an extremely buoyant level of commercial activity, illustrated by the arrival of 846,000 new clients in 2024. All the business lines serving the retail banking networks – Insurance, Payments, Financial Solutions & Expertise – generated growth both in full-year 2024 and in the 4th quarter of the year. It also proved to be a remarkable quarter and full-year period for the global business lines managed by Natixis CIB and Natixis IM with, in particular, 19% revenue growth in our capital markets activities in the fourth quarter, and a record-breaking 40 billion euros in net inflows for our asset management activities in the course of the year.
These results testify to the dynamic implementation of our VISION 2030 strategic project. In the space of a year, we announced the planned acquisition of SGEF, making the Group the front-ranking European equipment leasing specialist, an initiative due to be completed early this year; the creation, with BNP Paribas, of the French leader in payment processing, with a view to becoming one of the top 3 players in Europe; plans to create a champion in asset management with Generali that would be No.1 in Europe in terms of revenues and one of the top 10 asset management specialists worldwide. Today, we announce our ambition to create a common technological platform for the Banques Populaires and Caisses d'Epargne by setting up a joint information system. Designed to further enhance the Group’s performance, this project sets out to optimize the service offered to our 35 million clients and to improve the day-to-day lives of our employees and, in the process, support the development of retail banking in France. These projects give concrete expression to our determination to pursue well-balanced development across our three priority growth areas: France, Europe, and the rest of the world.
These extremely exciting prospects for the months ahead will be driven by our staff of employees, who this year demonstrated their tremendous mobilization and enthusiasm during the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024. We gave expression to our promise to share the Games with as many people as possible in every territorial region of France. This event enabled us to strengthen our ties with our clients both in regional France and around the world, and we will continue to foster these relationships by contributing to the sustainable development of the economies in which we do business, in line with our cooperative values."
1 See the notes on methodology annexed to this press release 2Group share 3 Ratio estimated at end-December 2024 integrating pro forma the coming impact of SGEF and Nagelmackers acquisitions 4Average end-of month LCRs in Q4-24 5 Estimated at end-December 2024 6 196,100 new active clients over the year 7 On-balance sheet savings & deposits within the scope of the Retail Banking & Insurance business unit 8 Excluding reinsurance treaty with CNP Assurance 9 Scope of the individual clients in the BP and CE retail banking networks
Expert
Nicolas Namias
CEO of BPCE
Nicolas Namias, has been CEO of BPCE since December 3rd, 2022. He began his career in 2004 in the Treasury department of France’s Ministry for the Economy and