Crédit Agricole Profit Lifted by Fixed-Income Rebound -- Update
May 11 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Noemie Bisserbe
PARIS--Crédit Agricole SA, France's No. 2 listed bank by assets,
said Thursday its first-quarter net profit more than tripled, aided
by the boom in bond trading that has lifted banks globally and a
pickup in loan demand.
The Paris-based lender said net profit rose to EUR845 million
($918 million) from EUR227 million a year earlier. That beat
analysts' expectations for a profit of EUR701 million, according to
data provider FactSet. In the year-earlier quarter, the bank booked
a EUR448 million charge to restructure part of its debt and help
cut costs.
Revenue rose 24% to EUR4.7 billion.
Like rivals BNP Paribas SA and Société Générale SA, as well as
lenders around the world, Crédit Agricole benefited from a rebound
in bond trading, fueled by political uncertainty and rising U.S.
interest rates.
The bank's first-quarter earnings also highlight a pickup in the
eurozone economy after years of crisis and a slow recovery.
Net profit at its corporate and investment bank surged 87% to
EUR304 million, while retail lender LCL posted a 65% jump in net
profit to EUR140 million.
Crédit Agricole's insurance and asset-management business
reported a 5% increase in net profit to EUR398 million, while net
profit for its specialized financial-services business rose 56% to
EUR201 million.
Net profit for its international retail-banking business, which
includes Italy, Poland and Egypt, rose 15% to EUR61 million.
The bank's core Tier 1 ratio, which compares top-quality capital
such as equity and retained earnings with risk-weighted assets,
stood at 11.9% in March, down from 12.1% in December.
The bank's leverage ratio, which measures capital held by the
bank against its total assets, was 4.7% in March, compared with 5%
in December.
Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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