Late last week, a court in New York delivered a verdict finding the French bank liable for its role in the "genocide committed against Black African civilians in Sudan" by the al-Bashir dictatorship from 2002 to 2008. BNP Paribas said "there is no doubt whatsover that the bank will fight this case."

Shares in BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, which is scheduled to report third-quarter results on 28 October, remained under pressure yesterday after a court ruling on Monday linked it to human rights abuses in Sudan.

The Paris-listed lender said on Monday that it has “very clearly stated its unwavering intention to appeal.” 

Over the past five trading days, shares in the bank have fallen about 11.4 per cent (as of 12:30 pm UK time yesterday); since the start of 2025, they’ve risen by 15.3 per cent. The Euro Stoxx ® Banks Index, covering 50 stocks from eight eurozone countries – such as those of Deutsche Bank, Unicredit and Santander – has risen by more than 62 per cent. 

European banks, which languished in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash and struggled against headwinds of ultra-low/negative real interest rates, recovered as interest rates rose and balance sheets were rebuilt after years of restructuring. The policy shift in Germany, for example, towards boosting defence and infrastructure spending, and an asset allocation shift to Europe from the US by some investors, also spilled over into the banking sector. 

Could be expensive
Shareholders speculated that BNP Paribas faced a costly round of settlements. On Friday, a jury in a Manhattan federal court found the bank liable “for its role in enabling the genocide committed against Black African civilians in Sudan by the al-Bashir dictatorship from 2002 to 2008,” according to a statement from the law firm Hausfeld, which represents them. 

“The verdict marks a historic moment in human rights and financial accountability, setting a precedent for holding global banks civilly liable for facilitating regimes accused of crimes against humanity,” Hausfield’s statement said. 

The verdict concluded a five-week jury trial, tried before the Hon Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York. It centred on BNP Paribas’s “admitted violations of US sanctions, which allowed Sudan’s government to access billions of US dollars through its Geneva office during the height of the Sudan conflict,” the Hausfeld statement said. “Plaintiffs argued, and the jury agreed, that the bank’s financial services were a `natural and adequate cause’ of the harm suffered by survivors of ethnic cleansing and mass violence. The jury awarded $6.4 million to Abulgasim Abdalla, $7.3 million to Entesar Osman Kashef, and $6.75 million to Turjuman Adam,” it said.

BNP Paribas was adamant that it would contest the case.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that the bank will fight this case and use all recourses available to it. We strongly believe this verdict should be overturned on appeal. Once again, BNP Paribas reaffirms that this result is clearly wrong and ignores important evidence the bank was not permitted to introduce,” it said in a statement. 

“We are going to pursue all available avenues to contest this judgment. Furthermore, this verdict is specific to these three plaintiffs and should not have broader application. Any attempt to extrapolate is necessarily wrong as is any speculation regarding a potential settlement. The bank considers that it does not have any pressure to settle this case,” it added.