French bank BNP Paribas reports bumper profit for 2022, boosts stock purchase plan

BNP Paribas reported Tuesday a 7% rise in net income for 2022 and revised up its profit targets.

The French bank said net profit attributable to shareholders came in at 2.2 billion euros ($2.36 billion) for the fourth quarter, taking its full-year profit figure for 2022 to 10.2 billion euros. Analysts had expected a figure of 2.36 billion euros for the quarter and 10.9 billion euros for the year, according to Refinitiv.

Here are other highlights from the results:

• Annual revenues rose to 50.4 billion euros versus 46.2 billion euros a year ago;
• Operating expenses rose 8.3% from a year ago to 33.7 billion;
• CET 1 ratio, a measure of bank solvency, stood at 12.3% versus 12.1% in the previous quarter.

Shares of the French bank are down about 7% over the last year.

“On the strength of this performance and with additional growth potential stemming from the redeployment of capital released by the sale of Bank of the West, combined with the positive impact of the rise in interest rates in 2022, the Group reaffirms the importance and relevance of the pillars of its Growth, Technology & Sustainability 2025 strategic plan and is revising upward its ambitions,” the bank said in a statement.

The French lender said it now aims to grow its net income by more than 9% between 2022 and 2025.

It said it will execute share buybacks each year — particularly in 2023, when its share buyback program will total 5 billion euros. It is planning to pay out a dividend of 3.90 euros.

Lars Machenil, CFO at BNP Paribas, told CNBC’s Charlotte Reed that “the main thing what I like to do is to invest it organically in businesses that we have and therefore accelerate growth.”

“That is the ideal because we have the platforms we can accelerate growth. So it is immediate bottom line, there is no concerns of integration,” he added about how the bank might use the new capital.