SOCGEN: BETTER THAN EXPECTATIONS IN THE THIRD QUARTER
PARIS (Reuters) – Societe Generale on Thursday announced better than expected third quarter results, thanks to higher revenues from its corporate and investment banking activities as well as lower provisions for bad debts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
France’s third-listed bank, after BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole SA, said its net profit nearly doubled in the quarter, from 862 million euros a year earlier to 1.6 billion euros and thus exceeding the 952 million consensus achieved by Refinitiv based on analyst forecasts.
The credit institution has also raised its 2021 forecast for its provisions. He now expects the cost of risk – which reflects the potential exposure to non-repayment of loans – to not exceed 20 basis points this year while he had previously expected a cost of risk of between 20 and 25 basis points.
SocGen also said in a press release that it had launched a share buyback program of approximately € 470 million.
The bank also announced the appointment of Claire Dumas as the group’s financial director, replacing William Kadouch-Chassaing.
(Report Matthieu Protard, French version Jean-Michel Bélot and Nicolas Delame, edited by)