BNP Paribas’ traders are (still) some of the best in the world
BNP Paribas’ fourth quarter and full year results are out, and based on topline growth at least, the bank might just have the best traders in Europe, if not the world.
Revenues in the bank's global markets division rose 27% last year, from €6.8bn to €8.7bn. Much of the growth was on the back of the bank's macro-focused fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) traders, who increased revenues by a third, by virtue of strength in derivatives, commodities, rates and FX. Equities trading revenues were up by a more feeble 20% during the year.
For the last quarter alone, BNP's FICC revenues grew by 45% year-on-year.
This compares handsomely to US banks. At JPMorgan, for instance, FICC was up 12% in Q4 vs Q4. At Goldman Sachs it was up 38%.
It also compares well to Deutsche Bank, where Q4 FICC revenues rose 26%. However, Deutsche Bank's fixed income business is focused on credit trading, which performed less well in Q4 and BNP's is focused on macro, which had an excellent quarter everywhere - at DB, rates revenues alone were up 400%.
Bank of America was King of the Street for Q4. The bank had the best IB performance in a challenging year, and the best trading revenue of the quarter – with the highest Q4 FICC growth.
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