PARIS – French banking giant Societe Generale (SocGen) slumped into a net loss in 2020, as the pandemic battered the global economy despite a recovery in the second half, it said today.
The group reported a net loss of €258 million (RM1.26 billion) for last year, compared to a profit of around €3.2 billion in 2019.
The coronavirus pandemic forced the bank to boost bad loan provisions and take various accounting charges.
Net banking income – equivalent to turnover – fell by 10% last year.
Over the first six months, SocGen recorded a net loss of some €1.6 billion, but it reported a “significant improvement” in the second half, it said in a statement.
It posted a net profit of €862 million in the third quarter and €470 million in the fourth, down almost 30% from a year earlier.
“The Q4 results provide further confirmation of the rebound in our businesses observed in Q3 after a beginning of the year marked by the impact of the Covid-19 crisis,” said CEO Frederic Oudea in the statement.
In the second half, “we defined ambitious and value-creating strategic trajectories for our businesses, demonstrating our ability to adapt and transform in a durably more uncertain environment”.
For 2021, the group said it will “maintain strict discipline... against the backdrop of an improvement in the economic outlook, with a slight increase in costs”. – AFP, February 10, 2021
