On 6 September 2018, the Board of Directors of BGL BNP Paribas examined the consolidated financial statements of the bank under IFRS at 30 June 2018: Net banking income reached €693.1 million, up 6% on the first half of 2017; in an environment of persistently low rates, commercial activity remains very strong in the various business areas.

Thanks to the favourable economic conditions in Luxembourg and strong commercial activities, Retail and Corporate Banking recorded growth in average loan outstanding of 9%, boosted by an increase in mortgages and investment loans. Average deposit volumes grew by 13%, largely due to excellent inflows from corporate clients associated with the development of international cash management services.

Compared with the previous year, Wealth Management posted growth of 8% in assets under management. All segments are showing improvement in terms of net capital inflows. Thanks to a flexible, bespoke range of financing solutions, Wealth Management’s average loan outstanding grew by 7%.

The bank took advantage of its status as a member of the international BNP Paribas Group to offer a comprehensive range of products and services to its institutional investor clients through its Corporate and Institutional Banking business line. The business line continues to perform in line with objectives.

Leasing International’s business operations, which are benefiting from the continued commercial development in strategic regions, recorded healthy average loan outstanding growth of 16%, partly justified by several subsidiaries entering the scope of consolidation.

Overheads were €375.2 million, up 8% on the first half of 2017 (€348.4 million). This rise is mainly attributable to investments to support the development of leasing activities, and to several subsidiaries entering the scope of consolidation.

Cost of risk stood at €21.5 million, which is an extremely low level for outstandings in the region of €30 billion.

Operating income amounted to €296.4 million, up 2% on the first half of 2017 (€289.5 million).

The share of the net profits of equity affiliates (i.e. the share of net profits of subsidiaries in which the Bank does not have a majority shareholding) stood at €3.1 million, compared with €16.8 million in the first half of 2017. This development is primarily attributable to a change in company consolidation accounting, which previously used the equity method and now uses the global integration method.

Group consolidated net profit for the first half of 2018 amounted to €131.2 million, versus €170.3 million in the first half of 2017. In an environment of persistently low interest rates, net income from the bank’s commercial activities is stable. However, the bank recorded an exceptional tax cost following a raised estimate of the value of BGL BNP Paribas’ participation in BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions S.A.

At 30 June 2018, the balance sheet total stood at €54.2 billion, which is 9% higher than at 31 December 2017 and reflects the healthy development of business activities.