5/3/2022

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the presentation of BNP Paribas first quarter 2022 results. For your information, this conference call is being recorded. Supporting slides are available on BNP Paribas IR website, invest.bnpparibas.com. During today's presentation, you will be able to ask your questions by pressing 01 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to ask a question, please make sure to be in a quiet area to maximize audio quality. I would like now to hand the call over to Jean-Laurent Bonafé, Group Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

speaker
Jean-Laurent Bonafé
Group Chief Executive Officer

Jean-Laurent Bonafé Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I trust you are doing well, and welcome to the presentation of BNP Paribas first quarter 2022 results. Today, last, and I will present to you the quarterly results illustrating the gross component of our 2025 strategic plan. to be followed by the presentation of the last two pillars of our Growth, Technology, and Sustainability 25 plan. As usual, at the end of the presentation, we'll be pleased to take your questions. So now, I will jump to the results presentation, starting on slide three. BNP5 has on a solid trajectory in 22, thanks to a robust start to the year, which illustrates the strength of our model and its continuous reinforcement. We delivered indeed very solid results in the first quarter on the back of our ability to adapt and accompany our clients and the economy. Revenues increased by 13.5% in the operating divisions, stemming from an outperforming CIB, as well as a very positive drive of CPBS, both in commercial and personal banking, as well as in specialized businesses, combined with a good resilience in investment and protection services. As part of this growth stems from the effect of the strategic developments realized in 21 and the first quarter 22, in particular in the equity business or in CPBS, for instance, with Floa, a leader in buy now, pay later solutions. But it is just a part of the growth. As you certainly saw it, group revenues also strongly increased by 10.4% at constant scope and exchange rates, materializing the significant growth beyond these recent developments. The company in the double digit growth cost increased but more than 50% of this increase is actually due to the scope and exchange rates effects as well as the rise in the taxes subject to IFRIC 21 which are as you know almost fully accounted for in the first quarter and until 23 strongly inflated by the contribution to the single resolution fund. So what you can see is is that actually the group benefits not only from a strong potential for growth but also from a strong operational performance illustrated by positive jaws of 3.4 points at constant scope and exchange rates excluding taxes subject to IFRIC 21. It demonstrates the ability of our businesses to adapt on the back of the gains in operational efficiency and the successful development of leading platforms allowing growth at marginal cost. Cost of risk stood at 20 basis points, a particularly low level, resulting from a release in provisioning of performing loans at Bankwest. Excluding Bankwest, the underlying cost of risk is still low at 30 bps. As a consequence of our strong growth in operating income, the group's net result came in at a solid level of 2.1 billion euros, a significant increase year on year of 19.2%, or even 3.4 billion euros, plus 37%, excluding exceptional items and contribution to the single resolution fund. The group's core equity Tier 1 ratio clocked in at 12.4%, as on one end, we accelerated organic growth and accompanied the development of businesses with bolt-on acquisition. On the other hand, the CT1 ratio was specifically impacted this quarter by changes in regulation, which were largely anticipated and a temporary effect of the market environment, which will taper off. In a nutshell, a strong first quarter, which sustains the 2022 trajectory. Turning on to slide four, you can see that being defined by a diversified model has delivered over the past few years a sustained growth of 5.9% annually at a pace higher than the underlying economy. Indeed, our model is providing a solid base for growth. First, we are favorably positioned in terms of sectors, geographies, and client segments. A position we have gained as our leading platforms provide us with the ability to accompany our clients and the economy with a global approach and a long-term view. We have built a diversified and integrated model for all weather conditions, which is balanced in its research, one CIB, to commercial and personal banking mainly in Europe, and CBBS and IPS specialized businesses. This client-centric model, powered by the cooperation between businesses, is a critical advantage with around 27% of group revenues generated by cross-selling. As you know, with the 2025 Strategic Plan, we continue to reinforce this model in order to create even more value. This is, I think, already evidenced by our results and will sustain our growth trajectory by 2025, starting in 2022. But we consider that we can leverage our model a step further. Hence, we have launched three transversal initiatives around payments and flows, financial savings and mobility, with the objective to generate €2 billion of cross-selling revenues, supporting the revenue growth by 2025. Value creation also stems from our ability to deliver positive jobs, as you can see on slide 5. I say it again, delivering positive jobs each year and in every division is at the core of our strategy and a main point of attention. It's driven from the capacity of our leading platforms to grow at marginal costs and to continuously deliver gains in operational efficiencies. We have a strong track record in doing so, as illustrated by the continuous growth of the gross operating income, despite the growing share of the SAF contribution in our expenses. To sustain positive jobs over the period 2021-2025, with an average of two points, major initiatives throughout our business lines will be implemented to adjust our cost to serve, increase cost variability, and generate 2 billion of recurring cost savings progressively by 25, out of which 500 in 2022. It will sustain our ability to generate positive jobs each year and each division. It will also be amplified with a $1 billion decrease in costs in 2024, resulting from the ramp-up of the SRF, contributing by the end of 2023. Hence, our potential for growth in the coming years has already been announced. Our 2022-2025 Group's ambitions are summarized on slide 6 are confirmed as well as the expected closing of the sale of banks of the West. And now, I would like to hand over to Lars, who will take you through the group results. Lars.

speaker
Lars Machenil
Group Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Jean-Laurent. Good afternoon, fine ladies, gentlemen. If I can ask you to turn to slide 8, where you can see that the strong results for the first quarter do not rely on exceptional items. The strong results of the first quarter, they materialized not only with much lower exceptional items, but also on the back of a 400 million euros stop up in taxes subject to IFRIC 21. I certainly don't have to remind you that under IFRIC 21, those taxes fall in the first quarter, covering the full year. And by the way, a burden that will fall off for a last part, basically the single resolution fund contribution, after next year. So with this, if I can ask you to swipe to the next, to slide nine, where you can see that the solid performance of the group in the first quarter, and if we start by looking at the bottom line, which clocks in at 2.1 billion euros, up by a sweet 19% year on year. This growth rate has been achieved on the back of a strong performance of the operating divisions. You could say that this performance is somewhat flattered by Bank of the West cost of risk, which is low, or the outperformance of global markets. But let me remind you what I said at the start, is that at the same time, basically this evolution is tempered by the significant step up in the single resolution fund contribution at the very low level of exceptional items. So all in all, these effects broadly offset each other, which does mean that indeed the visual growth rate is a fair representation of the first quarter beat, and this leads to a return on tangible equity of 13.5%, and should give you some confidence in our ability to reach a target above 11% in 2025. If we now look at the operating divisions, and let's start with the revenues, doing so by looking at slide 10. where I remind you they are presented according to the new reporting format and with divisions presented in alphabetical order. So revenues grew by 13.5%, 12.1% on a like-for-like basis. CRB revenues grew sharply at 28.1%, consolidating gains in market shares and accelerating the reinforcement of the businesses. A strong momentum as well for CPBS, with an 8.5% increase mainly driven by a continued hike in fees, as well as an increase in net interest income margin of our commercial and personal banking, combined with a very strong increase in revenues for our specialized businesses. I pick out, for example, Arval. On a like-for-like basis, IPS delivered an increase of revenues of 0.8%, and this in a challenging market environment. If you could now flick to slide 11, we stay on the operating divisions and we look at the costs. And we basically show that they have delivered growth at marginal cost. So the operating divisions' costs are up 9.4%, delivering positive jobs. These costs are mainly variable costs linked with a strong revenue growth. As such, CIB saw its cost rise as a result of the growth in activity and changes parameter, delivering highly positive JOLs at 9.8 points. In a similar way, CPBS operated also with very positive JOLs on the back of a positive evolution of revenues, outpacing costs by more than 3 points. Lastly, IPS costs were up 3.6% year-on-year in line with targeted investments. Now, this cost evolution is impacted basically by two points that I would like to mention. The first, as I said, is the parameter effect. So businesses have been added, stepping up the cost. And secondly, the single resolution contribution, which stepped up. And as mentioned before, when we correct for these two effects, the revenues evolved by 10.4% and the cost by 7%. So again, very positive jobs. And if you look at this 7%, if you break it down, more than half of it, 4.5%, stems from the variable cost at CIB to accompany the revenues. 1% is stemming from the international retail banking and their related growth. And 1.5% is basically the cost of all the rest of the group. So costs and draws very well under control. Having said that, if we now look at another line in the P&L, basically cost of risks. So let's look at slide 12, and we see the benefits of our long-term risk management policy. And given our strategic direction, and thanks to a strong selectivity at origination, on top of that diversification and long-term client relationship, as well as a proactive management of risks, we achieved through time a constant improvement of our cost of risk leading to our guidance at around 40 for zero basis points over outstanding. As an illustration, our exposure to Russia is very low and concentrated on highly collateralized financing for local subsidiaries of non-Russian NMC's. Similarly, we oriented some of our businesses, such as what we have in Italy, personal finance, oil and gas, and we completed a shutdown of our ENC specialized activities in 2020. So with this, And if we refer to the chart top left on this page, we should emphasize that the cost of risk is particularly low this quarter. We see 20 basis points overall standing, and this due to releases on performing loans at Bankwest. I would say that at 30 basis points underlying cost of risk, so excluding those Bank of the West, is more representative of the quarter and compares well with a full year 2022 cost of risk, which should be a tad below the guidance of 40 basis points that we've given. And if we take the business one by one, you will see the same pattern with low levels of cost of risk due to releases on performing loans, lower provisions on non-performing loans, and a low number of new defaults. So with this, we basically looked at the P&L, and if I can ask you to swipe to slide 15, where you look at the common equity T1 ratio, which stands at 12.4%, a delta of 50 basis points compared to the quarter before. And first on this, as anticipated and now well-known, the updating of models and changes in regulation resulted in a 30 base impact as they all fall in this quarter. So all of these changes, there are several of them, and they basically all fall now. And in the past, they have been better spread over time by the regulator. And as always, this will be handled by the ordinary daily capital management of the bank. Moreover, this first quarter of 22 is not a standard one, and you will see with no surprise the effect of increased volatility on counterparty risk but also the impact on OCI of market prices end of March, as well as the Forex effect. As you are well aware, these impacts will progressively taper off. And all this is part of the run of the mill, and exceptionally, as I mentioned, they fall all in this first quarter. Last but not least, as we mentioned, BNP Paribas is very well positioned. And we have accelerated our growth, supporting our clients and the economy, and reinforcing our business lines with bolt-on acquisitions, as we announced. And hence, all of this is to create long-term value. And this resulted in a 10 basis point impact on the CET1. Last but not least, you can see that we have put into reserves 60% 603. of our results in line with our increased ordinary distribution policy. If we then look at the leverage ratio, stood at 3.8% this quarter, so the group is well on track to operate at 4.2% in the context of its 2025 strategic plan. So with this, if we turn to page 16 and look at the balance sheet, it is with no surprise that our net tangible book value per share has continued to grow year after year, and this time it clocked in at 80.1 euros at the end of March, up 5.6% compared to last year, and therefore an annual growth rate of 7.2% since 2008, highlighting our value creation year after year under all weather conditions. So I take it you can see the rainbow now. So turning to our ambitious policy of engagement with society on slide 17, I would like first to mention the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. An extraordinary mobilization has been rolled out through the group to call for solidarity. First and foremost, BNP Paribas has done everything within its power to provide for the security of its employees. Notably, through the contribution of neighbor countries such as Poland. In particular, we are housing more than 1,700 persons among our Ukrainian colleagues and their families. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our teams and partners from the deepest of my heart. Moreover, the group is mobilized around several social challenges. and actively supports clients in the energy and environmental transition. This is on slide 18. These are priority drivers of our day-to-day actions and strategy. Laurence and Yannick will detail more concrete actions and commitment in a few minutes. I leave you to peruse slide 19 on internal control and compliance, emphasizing, of course, the rigorous and diligent implementation of all the necessary measures to the enforcement of international sanctions. So all is fine, no reason to check it out. I will now kindly ask you to advance to the first quarter results by division, starting on slide 21 with CIG, which saw a very sharp increase in results, building once again on its diversification and leveraging on buoyant client activity. Indeed, with consolidated leadership positions in EMEA, a successful integration of the prime brokerage activities as well as BNP Paribas Exxon, CIB strengthens its capacity to support its clients' needs, step up market shares, and step up in the U.S. and in the APAC regions. First, if we look at a primary market which was down 25%, the market as a whole, global banking delivered a very strong performance this quarter, outperforming the market by 10 points in terms of volumes across syndicated loans, bonds, and equity. Hence, global banking maintained a solid level of revenues, up 2%, on the back of this continued growth in loans, gains in market share, and progress made in trade and cash management. Secondly, there is a second division which is supported by the very strong client activity with the new division for the platform global markets. So a very robust growth on the back of a high demand for hedging activities on rates, currencies, and commodity derivatives. Equity markets. and prime services clocked in at good levels, and there was a good momentum on derivatives as well as structured products. On primary markets, our number one position on bond issues in euros has been confirmed. In this context, revenues saw a material increase of 52.8% with a good balance between FIC activities and equity and prime services. Lastly, third, security services saw an increase in assets as well as a record volume of transactions this quarter, confirming the sustained growth of this platform. Hence, revenues increased by 5%, a very strong performance. So in synthesis, all this resulted in very solid increase in CIB revenues, up 28%. Total CIB costs were up 18% in connection with this very strong activity. With revenue growth outpacing significantly cost evolution, CIB operated this quarter with, what else can I say, very positive jaws at close to 10 points. Growth operating income was up over 61%. Hence, CIB generated 1.3 billion euros of free tax income In other words, close to doubling results with a very low cost of risk. So to wrap up on CIB, very strong performance in revenues as a clear illustration of the market share gains, the dimension of the new platform with a long-term view, very positive jaws effect, and a sharp increase in income for CIB this quarter, supported by significant client volumes, not mentioning a strong risk management culture. If you can now turn your attention to slide 25 on what we call commercial personal banking and services, or in shorthand, CPBS. We witnessed a strong momentum on the back of a very good business drive across commercial and personal banking, so one part of CPBS on one hand, and these had a strong performance as well from the other part of CPBS, specialized businesses. In terms of activity, if we look at loan growth, it was up 4.8% and deposits grew by 8.2% across all businesses. On the private banking front, we saw very strong net asset inflows of 5 billion euros. So this is the banking. If we look at the specialized businesses, Our strong ability to grow was confirmed by Arval and Leasing Solutions with the good momentum at personal finance as well as new digital businesses which include the integration of Floa. I remind you a leader in the buy now pay later business in France with 3.7 million clients and highlighting as well the continuous growth of Nikko with now 2.6 million accounts opened. Moreover, The division continued the transformation of its operating model for retail customers, and this to improve client satisfaction and step-up cost variability. It materialized, for instance, with the implementation of a distribution partnership with Bpost in Belgium, and first steps towards outsourcing certain activities at B&L in Italy. If we look at the P&L, And if we look in particularly at revenues, they were up 8.5%. If we now focus on the commercial and personal banking side, the performance was very solid, 7.5% up, with strong increase in both net interest income as well as fees. It increased notably in the Eurozone with 6.5% supported by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, but also in Europe Med, with 46% on a like-for-like basis on the back of strong volumes in Poland and Turkey, as well as favorable interest rates over there. Then, if we cross the Atlantic, in the U.S., Bankwest saw a strong increase in loan production, including mortgages and equipment loans. If we now look to the second part of CPBS, specialized businesses. Revenues. They were up 10.6%. Arval and Leasing Solutions saw a sharp increase of 27% on the back, respectively, of high used car prices and volume growth. Personal finance revenues were up 2% on a like-for-like basis, and with loan production and volumes bouncing back 10.8% up on last year and back to March 2019 levels at constant exchange rates. So that's the top line. If we then look at the cost line, They were up 5.2%, reflecting the strong business momentum with very positive jaws this quarter of 3.3%. The commercial and personal banking networks confirmed their capacity to contain their costs. Specialized businesses confirmed their potential to grow at marginal cost with an extremely high positive jaws for Avalanche, more than 18.18%. And so, hence, pre-tax incomes to that 1.8 billion euros this quarter, marking a 59.59%. To wrap up, a very strong quarter for CPBS with very positive jaws effect and a steep drop in cost of risk, mainly related to Bank of the West. If I can now ask you to advance to slide 34 to 37, you'll see that our investment and protection services, IPS, division maintained a good business momentum despite an unfavorable environment driven by market performances this quarter. And in this context, overall net asset inflow proved resilient during the quarter with contrasted evolution and a good momentum overall on fee. If we look first at wealth management businesses, the activity was strong on the back of very good net asset inflows thanks to our European networks. In asset management, we saw the ongoing development of private debt with the finalization of the acquisition of Dynamic Credit Group. In tune with the market, net outflows towards quarter end were observed on monetary funds. If we now turn to insurance, we saw a good business drive And you know business drive that is looked at through growth inflows, for example, in savings above 20% year on year. We saw in Asia, France, and Luxembourg. And this combined with the announcement of new partnership with, for example, Fintech Neon in Brazil and Coppel in Mexico. If we now focus on the P&L, IPS revenues stood at 1.6 billion euros, stable versus a year ago, as a combination of strong revenues in wealth and asset management, plus 7.9%, and the negative accounting impact on insurance revenues related to the marking at fair value of part of the assets in insurance, which, as you know, are reversible, and they will return when the markets recover. And so please note that revenues would have significantly increased this quarter without this quote-unquote accounting impact. If we then look at the cost line, costs were up 3.6% on the back of targeted investments. As you know, IPS is a growth engine for the group, and wealth and asset management operated with very positive jaws at 2.4 points. To wrap up the businesses, and particularly IPS, a strong sales and marketing drive on the back of reinforced capabilities, which confirm IPS as a key growth engine, even if it does not yet fire on all cylinders as a consequence of the adverse market environment that I talked about. So this, ladies and gentlemen, concludes my presentation, and I will now hand back to Jean Laurent for the conclusion.

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