S&P Global Market Intelligence offer our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week.
Earnings
* France-based BNP Paribas SA posted a 13.9% year-over-year drop in fourth-quarter 2020 attributable net income, to €1.59 billion down from the year-ago €1.85 billion. For full-year 2020, the group's attributable net income stood at €7.07 billion, compared to €8.17 billion a year earlier.
* Spain-based Banco Santander SA's attributable profit for the fourth quarter of 2020 stood at €277 million, compared to €2.78 billion a year ago. Banco de Sabadell SA reported a loss that widened to €201 million from €15 million year over year. Santander reported a full-year loss of €8.77 billion and Sabadell made a profit of €2 million in 2020. Meanwhile, Liberbank SA, Unicaja Banco SA and ABANCA Corporación Bancaria SA also reported their results.
* Finland-based Nordea Bank Abp's 2020 fourth-quarter net attributable profit declined year over year to €725 million from €753 million while its full-year 2020 profit increased to €2.24 billion from €1.52 billion in the year-ago period.
* Germany-based Deutsche Bank AG reported a fourth-quarter 2020 profit attributable to shareholders of €51 million, compared to a loss of €1.60 billion a year earlier. For full-year 2020, the bank reported a profit of €113 million, compared to a loss of €5.72 billion a year earlier.
* Commerzbank AG said it expects to report a 2020 full-year loss of nearly €2.9 billion, compared to net profit of €585 million in the year-ago period due to restructuring charges and goodwill impairment.
* Italy-based BPER Banca SpA announced a dividend of 4 euro cents per share for 2020 as it swung to a profit of €45.0 million in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Unione di Banche Italiane SpA reported a fourth-quarter 2020 reclassified consolidated loss attributable to the company of €1.37 billion, compared to a profit of €38.1 million in the same period of 2019.
* Sweden-based Swedbank AB (publ) reported a year-over-year rise in fourth-quarter profit attributable to shareholders to 4.51 billion kronor from 4.43 billion kronor while its peer Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ)'s profit attributable to shareholders was largely unchanged year over year at 4.37 billion kronor. For full-year 2020, attributable profit fell year over year by 34% for Swedbank and by 8% for Handelsbanken.
* Additionally, Danske Bank A/S, Julius Bär Gruppe AG, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Akbank TAŞ and Yapı ve Kredi Bankası AŞ also reported 2020 fourth quarter numbers.
Regulation and law
* The European Banking Authority launched the 2021 EU-wide stress test, which will test 50 banks that cover 70% of the total banking assets in the EU and Norway. The regulator had postponed the 2020 test due to the pandemic.
* The Bank of England maintained its main bank rate at 0.1% but noted that the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain. The central bank also told lenders to be ready to implement negative rates in the future.
* Danske Bank said it had charged thousands of business clients credit renewal fees that it had no basis for charging due to a system error after it automated a fee system. The bank said it will compensate the affected customers, roughly 2,300. Additionally, the lender said it has finalized the internal investigation into the money-laundering scandal at its Estonian branch.
* The Swedish Economic Crime Authority has finalized its preliminary investigation into Swedbank's former CEO Birgitte Bonnesen's alleged link to a money-laundering scandal at the bank.
* Turkish banking regulator BDDK has allowed banks in the country to pay dividends equivalent to 10% of their 2020 net income, lifting a two-year ban.
Mergers and acquisitions
* Italy-based Intesa Sanpaolo SpA is looking to sell a nonperforming loan portfolio worth between €5 billion and €6 billion. The portfolio consists of loans it had originated as well as those by UBI Banca, which it acquired.
* U.K.-based Metro Bank PLC will acquire a loan portfolio for £384 million in cash from peer-to-peer investors that have invested through the platform RateSetter.
* Italy-based Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA's unit Cairn Capital Group Ltd. agreed to acquire U.K.-based specialist distressed credit manager Bybrook Capital LLP.
* Poland-based mobile payment solutions provider mPay SA signed a conditional agreement to purchase a 100% stake in Bank Polskiej Spółdzielczości SA unit Dom Maklerski Banku BPS SA.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA
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