A boost to figures for 2022 meant that the 2023 figures for wealth and asset management showed a decline, but on an underlying basis performance was robust, the French group said yesterday.

Pre-tax income at the wealth and asset management arm of BNP Paribas stood at €765 million ($832.5 million) in 2023, sliding 35.8 per cent from a year earlier when results were boosted by a wealth management sale and joint venture.

Wealth and asset management revenues in 2023 dipped 7.8 per cent at BNP Paribas from the level seen in 2022, but rose 3.8 per cent when real estate and principal investments business contributions are removed, the French group said yesterday. 

Wealth management revenues rose 6 per cent and asset management revenues gained by 1.7 per cent, the group said. Operating costs fell 0.1 per cent year-on-year, at €2.757 billion. 

In the fourth quarter, wealth and asset management revenues dropped 16.6 per cent, but rose when the downturn on real estate and principled investments business is taken out.

At the end of December 2023, the wealth and asset management businesses’ assets under management stood at €981 billion, up from €925 billion a year before. For wealth specifically, AuM stood at €415 billion, rising from €393 billion.

Across the whole BNP Paribas group, it logged 2023 distributable net income of €11.232 billion, rising 10.2 per cent from the 2022 result. Revenue rose 3.3 per cent, and expenses fell 1 per cent, it said in a statement. Group pre-tax income was €11.725 billion, down from €13.214 billion in 2022.

At the end of 2023, BNP Paribas had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard international measure of a bank’s capital buffer – of 13.2 per cent; the liquidity coverage ratio at the end of December 2023 was 148 per cent. The board proposed to pay a cash dividend of €4.6 – a distribution of 50 per cent of 2023 distributable net income.