Two weeks before the Brexit referendum, deputy mayor of Paris Jean-Louis Missika announced that the city would roll out the red carpet to London bankers and business if the UK voted to leave the EU.
Exactly how the city will do this, and whether it works, will not be known for some time, but there is no doubt that France’s banking sector has been thrust into the spotlight.
Data collected by The Banker reveals that the biggest French-headquartered lenders have healthy Tier 1 capital ratios, hovering between 13.6% and 19.3%, and that all posted profits for the past two years. In 2015 BNP Paribas, the country’s second biggest bank by Tier 1 capital, recorded the biggest pre-tax profit of $11.282bn up from $3.821bn the year prior.
France’s top five are somewhat bigger than the sixth biggest lender, Banque Postale. Its Tier 1 capital at the end of last year was $8.647bn.
All data sourced from www.thebankerdatabase.com
