SocGen sees income more than double
SOCIETE Generale reported group income more than doubled in the third quarter compared to a year earlier as a result of healthy retail banking activities with growth in international retail banking revenues.
It said group income increased €900m (£787m) in the third quarter taking total income for the first nine months to €3bn compared to €500m a year earlier.
Third quarter group revenue increased 2.6 per cent year-on-year to €6.3bn taking the overall figure for the nine months to 30 September to €19.6bn – an increase of 15.1 per cent on the previous year.
Net income from all domestic retail banking activity increased 3.5 per cent compared to a year ago while revenue from international retail banking increased 3.1 per cent on the year.
Those increases helped to offset a decline in corporate and investment banking revenue, which fell 20 per cent compared to a year earlier.
However, investment banking increased 10 per cent in the third quarter compared to the previous three months. Provisions for bad loans also continued to decline across all units, but particularly in Russia, where SocGen’s retail banking business broke even. The trend for lower provisions is forecast to continue the bank said. But the bank said it is well positioned to comply with the new 7.5 per cent tier one capital ratio rule.