Crédit Agricole beats 2022 profit target; Credit Suisse Q4'21 loss widens

TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS

* Crédit Agricole SA's full-year 2021 underlying net income group share rose on a yearly basis to €5.40 billion from €3.85 billion, exceeding the French bank's 2022 profit target of €5 billion. Its underlying net income group share also increased in the fourth quarter of 2021, to €1.44 billion from €975 million a year ago. Crédit Agricole will present its new 2025 development plan on June 22.

* Credit Suisse Group AG's net loss attributable to shareholders widened to CHF2.01 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 from CHF353 million a year before, including a goodwill impairment of CHF1.62 billion and major litigation provisions of CHF436 million. For full year 2021, the Swiss bank reported an attributable net loss of CHF1.57 billion, compared to a net income of CHF2.67 billion a year earlier. The board will propose a dividend of 10 centimes per share for 2021.

➤ ING risk costs set to normalize despite inflationary risks

In the fourth quarter of 2021, ING booked €346 million of risk costs, which included a €124 million management overlay for residential mortgages partly to account for inflation risk.

➤ BNP Paribas to reinvest $16.3B from Bank of the West sale in new strategy

"We are looking at investing in technology, new business models, bolt-on acquisitions, accelerating organic growth in a number of domains," said CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafé.

➤ ABN Amro eyes multiple share buybacks after €500M repurchase plan

The Dutch bank chose to do away with a large share buyback without follow-up and is instead gearing for more predictable capital distributions, CEO Robert Swaak said, as the lender's shares fell after it announced a €500 million repurchase plan.

EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT

* Société Générale SA's fourth-quarter 2021 group net income more than tripled year over year to €1.79 billion from €470 million on the back of lower net cost of risk. For full year 2021, the French lender swung to a net income of €5.64 billion from a year-ago loss of €258 million. SocGen plans to launch a share buyback program for a total amount of roughly €915 million.

* DNB Bank ASA reported a fourth-quarter 2021 group profit attributable to shareholders of 5.88 billion Norwegian kroner, up from 5.08 billion kroner in the previous year. The group's full-year 2021 attributable profit also rose on a yearly basis, to 24.41 billion kroner from 18.71 billion kroner a year ago. The board proposed a dividend of 9.75 kroner per share for 2021.

* Mediobanca Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA posted a consolidated group net profit of €525.8 million for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2021, a 28.1% increase from the year-ago €410.6 million, boosted by a strong growth in revenues. The Italian bank's net profit for the fiscal second quarter was €263.9 million, up from the year-ago €210.5 million.

* Deutsche Börse AG's fourth-quarter 2021 net profit attributable to shareholders was up 23% year over year to €281.2 million. For full year 2021, the German stock exchange operator's attributable net profit also increased, to €1.21 billion from €1.08 billion. The company is proposing a dividend of €3.20 per share for 2021.

* Netherlands-based Rabobank reported a net profit of €3.69 billion for full year 2021, compared to €1.10 billion a year earlier.

* Banca Carige SpA's consolidated net loss attributable to the parent company narrowed to €90.0 million in 2021 from €251.6 million in the period of February-December 2020. The Italy-based lender will need a capital increase despite the improvement, according to Il Sole 24 Ore.

* OP Financial Group reported a year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter 2021 profit attributable to owners to €207 million from €229 million, mainly driven by higher total expenses. For full year 2021, the Finnish group recorded an attributable profit of €900 million, up from €641 million in 2020. It also raised its 2022 return target for profit shares by 1.20 percentage points to 4.45%.

BANKING

* U.K.-based HSBC Holdings PLC is expanding its prime broking unit to cater to Western clients looking for investment opportunities in the East, Bloomberg News reported.

* Italian bank UniCredit SpA is poised to sell a portfolio of about €2 billion unlikely-to-pay loans to bad loan specialist Prelios, MF and Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Reuters also covered this.

* U.S. investment fund manager BlackRock has increased its stake in Spain's Banco de Sabadell SA to 5.141% from the 3.436% it has had since June 2021 through both voting rights and financial instruments, Europa Press wrote.

* Guido Bastianini plans to sue Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA after his dismissal as CEO, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

* By the end of March, Banca Popolare di Bari SpA CEO Cristiano Carrus will present an updated industrial plan that will see a shift in strategy for the Italian bank, MF reported. The focus will be on relaunching activities in the core territory, cost reduction and accelerating revenue growth, especially commission margins.

* Unicaja Banco SA will meet with labor representatives today to inform them of the acceptance of the 1,513 voluntary exits agreed in the Spanish lender's current redundancy round, Europa Press reported, citing union sources.

* Oldenburgische Landesbank AG may carry out an IPO as soon as this year, with a valuation of well over €1 billion being "realistic," Bloomberg reported, citing CEO Stefan Barth. The German lender is also open to other alternatives, including M&A. Börsen Zeitung also covered.

* A Polish court rejected a class action suit filed against mBank SA by a group of roughly 1,700 Swiss franc mortgage holders seeking invalidation of their loan contracts, the Polish lender said.

* Norway-based Bank2 ASA completed the divestment of its debt collection business Finans2, FinansWatch reported. The buyer is Aleph Capital Partners in collaboration with Safra Group.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The Central Bank of Iceland raised the key interest rate by 75 basis points to 2.75%.

* Romania's central bank raised its key rate to 2.5% from 2%.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* The ECB is on alert for the threat of cyberattacks on banks that could be launched from Russia amid political tensions between Moscow and the West, insiders told Reuters.

Erin Tanchico, Daniel Stephens, Meike Wijers, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Brian McCulloch, Sophie Davies and Nelson Siqueira contributed to this report.

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