The French bank reported ‘very sound’ results in 2019 with the fourth quarter representing its ‘best-ever’ quarter in terms of revenue and gross operating income generated.

Natixis’ reported underlying net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2019, at €2.5 billion, were up 26% year-on-year across its businesses with corporate and investment banking (CIB) up 74%; asset and wealth management up eight percent; insurance up seven percent; and payments up six percent on Q4 2018.

Adjusting for the Q4 2018 €259m non-recurring impact on Asian equity derivatives, net revenues in CIB were up 16% y-o-y, primarily driven by global markets (+40%) and investment banking/mergers & acquisitions (+14%).

Net revenues from the Green & Sustainable Hub, whose purpose is to develop CIB’s green and sustainable finance activities in Europe, but also in the Asia Pacific and Americas platforms, multiplied by 3.3 in 2019. The hub has been at the centre of a number of campaigns by the bank in 2019, especially in Belgium and France, where structured products were launched that not only provided green funding, but for which the performance equity underlying was a green index too

As of December 31 2019, liabilities and equity on the bank’s balance sheet included debt securities worth €47.4 billion (End-2018: €35 billion).

Natixis collected approximately US$491m (€454m) from 43 structured products in the fourth quarter of 2019, a decrease of almost 50% in sales volume compared to the US$950m accumulated from 104 product in the prior year period, according to SRP data.

For the full-year 2019, Natixis issued 383 products worth an estimated US$2.4 billion (FY2018: US$2.3 billion from 444 products).

The bulk of the bank’s sales volumes in the quarter came from products issued in its home market France where it collected more than US$475m from 34 products in the period. The structures were distributed via 15 different providers, including, among others, Cyrus Conseil, DS Investment Solutions, Equitim, Generali, and Banque Populaire Gestion Privée.

The latter was responsible for the distribution of Almagra, the bank’s best-selling product in the quarter. The eight-year structured fund, which could be accessed via a life-insurance policy, was linked to the Euronext Core Europe 30 EW Decrement 5% NR Index and sold €118.5m at inception.

Outside of France, Natixis issued products in Belgium, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and Taiwan in the quarter.

In 4Q 2019, net inflows in asset management reached approximately €0.5 billion in Europe, with a positive momentum for global macro and ESG strategies.

Asset management’s AUM reached €934 billion as of 31 December, up one percent quarter-on-quarter, with a positive market effect of €26 billion in Q4 2019 (mainly December) essentially impacting North American equity strategies and more than offsetting a weaker US dollar. Wealth management AUM reached €30.4 at year-end 2019, with €0.5 billion net inflows in 2019.

‘The momentum of successive quarter-on-quarter growth is the result of our unwavering implementation of our asset-light strategy and represents a solid base for us to complete our 2018-2020 strategic plan,’ said François Riahi (pictured), chief executive officer, commenting on the results.

Click the link to view the Natixis 4Q19 & full year 2019 results and the presentation.