The trickle of Q3 results continues with interim numbers released by Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Lloyds and, late in the week, RBS.
SocGen joined the trend to lament spread compression but reported results just 1.5% down on Q2: “In an environment marked by shrinking volumes and margin erosion, Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities generated stable revenues of €656 million…This resilience was helped by the dynamism of the rates activity and the good performance of all activities on emerging underlyings.”
At BNP Paribas there was no mention of lower volumes or narrower margins but, in common with SG, the bank showed a minor fall of 3.7% in Fixed Income revenues over the quarter to €1,211 million. Of course revenues were down more materially, by 37.6% on the numbers for Q3 2009. Again, as with Société Générale, there was no explicit mention of FX performance.
Lloyds also released its interim management statement, but it’s more of the we’ve-done-very-nicely, thank-you variety; that is, largely devoid of meaningful figures. There’s stuff about savings from synergies and balance sheet reduction both being on track and debt issuance being well received. But no hard figures about business performance. Maybe that’ll change under the new fellow.
Finally the other government-beholden outfit declared its Q3 numbers. Royal Bank of Scotland reported on November 5 and while Global banking and markets (GBM) as a whole showed a small operating loss for Q3 (in Q2 there was a profit of more than £1 billion) and revenues “were 20% lower at £1,554 million for the quarter [versus £1,947 million in Q2 and £2,065 million in Q3 2009], given lower customer trading volumes and volatility”. At least, “currencies revenue recovered somewhat”. And in the 173 pages of RBS’s interim management statement (Lloyds’ report is a risible five pages), there is room to give figures for Currencies and commodities: up at £218 million in Q3 against £179 million in Q2 and £147 million in Q3 2009.
There is a masterful piece of British understatement in RBS’s report: “GBM revenues, as is typical for the industry, are hard to forecast. It is anticipated, however, the fourth quarter market environment will remain challenging.”
Ain’t that the truth?
