The Paris-based group reported a gain in assets under management and an improvement in revenues for its wealth, asset management and insurance arm.

BNP Paribas’ wealth, insurance and asset management arm said late last week that its total assets under management rose 4.5 per cent from the end of last year to €1.218 trillion ($1.41 trillion) as at end-September 2021. 

The gain in AuM was mainly driven by a “performance impact” of €40 billion, caused by rising market levels and management skills. A foreign exchange rate effect boosted the AuM number by €11.8 billion, BNP Paribas said in a statement on Friday. 

The group said there were strong net asset inflows in its European wealth arm, especially in Germany, France and Italy, as well as Asia.

At €859 million, wealth and asset management revenues rose by 17.0 per cent compared with the third quarter 2020 and were up in all businesses. They were driven by higher fees and loan revenues at wealth management, the impact of strong net asset inflows and the performance impact at asset management and the sharp increase at real estate services, particularly in advisory.

At €651 million, operating expenses rose by 8.9 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2020, driven by the support for growth in activity in all businesses.

After including one third of private banking’s net income from domestic markets, in Turkey, Poland and the US, pre-tax income at wealth and asset management came to €224 million, up sharply by 53.9 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2020, driven by a strong increase in all businesses.

At the group level, BNP Paribas logged pre-tax income, at €3.45 billion, up 29.2 per cent on a year earlier. Its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard measure of a bank’s capital buffer – was 13 per cent.