By Ed Frankl BNP Paribas SA’s fourth-quarter profit fell but revenue rose on bumper net interest income, as it raised its targets to 2025 and said it would launch a 5 billion euro share buyback. The French bank, the largest in the eurozone by market capitalization, reported net profit of 2.15 billion euros ($2.31 billion) in the three months to December, down from EUR2.31 billion in the same period in 2021.
Revenue rose 7.8% on year to EUR12.11 billion, driven by interest income that jumped 16%. The results were, however, slightly below expectations of net profit of EUR2.34 billion and revenue of EUR12.19 billion, according to analysts’ consensus provided by FactSet. At its Corporate & Institutional Banking arm, revenue increased 18%, with all three businesses areas growing by double digits. But commission income fell 5.9% to EUR2.75 billion. The Paris-based lender also raised its midterm targets, including for net income to grow on average by more than 9% and earnings per share by more than 12% between 2022 and 2025, and now aims for return on tangible equity of around 12% in 2025. BNP added that it would return EUR5 billion to shareholders via two tranches of share buybacks in 2023, …