The French lender achieved the best financial result in its history in 2021.
Société Générale has reported record results for 2021. Net banking income, at €25.8 billion, was up 16.7% compared to the previous year.
In Q4 2021, the group posted revenues of €6.6 billion, up 13.4% year-on-year (YoY), with a positive contribution from all the businesses.
The performance of the global markets’ unit was solid throughout the year. Revenues, at €5 billion it increased by 40.2% compared to 2020, which was heavily impacted by the health crisis. Market conditions were favourable in the equity market and more complex in the fixed income markets in 2021, stated the bank.
Global markets also delivered a solid performance in Q4. Revenues, at €1.1 billion, increased by 9.5% YoY. The quarter was marked by very buoyant commercial activity in most client segments.
The equity activity enjoyed its best year since 2009 (€3.1 billion versus €1.3 billion in 2020), driven by good market conditions and the successful repositioning of the investment solutions product offering.
The reduction in the risk profile of structured products was completed in the first half of the year, ahead of schedule.
Market conditions were still favourable on all products in Q4, when the business posted revenues of €727m, up 2.6% YoY.
The bank led by Fréderic Oudéa (pictured) issued 1,989 structured products worth an estimated US$13.2 billion in 2021 (FY2020: US$13.4 billion from 3,352 products), globally.
In the fourth quarter, it launched public offers in 13 different jurisdictions. Some 497 products worth an estimated US$3 billion were issued between 1 October and 31 December 2021 (Q4 2020: US$3.3 billion from 650 products).
The highest activity was seen in the bank’s home market France where it collected US$2.2 billion from 217 products that were sold via 10 distributors, including, among others, Adequity, CNP Assurances, and i-Kapital.
Outside of Europe, SG was the manufacturer behind 165 products that were targeted at private banking clients in Taiwan. They were almost exclusively autocalls linked to a worst-of basket that were available via local banks and securities’ houses such as Bank Sinopac, E.Sun Commercial Bank, and Fubon Securities.
The French group was the number two provider of listed products (by issuance) in 2021, behind J.P. Morgan only, according to SRP data. The bank issued some 433,109 turbo certificates in the year, an increase of 21% compared to the previous year (FY2020: 358,151 turbos). Most turbos were targeted at investors in Germany (387,575). Other countries where its turbos are marketed include France (29,255), Belgium (16,194), and the Netherlands (13,953).
In the fourth quarter, SocGen issued just under 100,000 turbos in Europe – again second behind J.P. Morgan (by issuance), with the US bank listing 127,707 turbos in Q4. A further 1,422 warrants and callable bull bear certificates were listed in Hong Kong SAR during this period.
Asset and wealth management’s net banking income reached €958m in 2021 (+6.1% vs. 2020). It was 6.5% higher in Q4 2021 vs Q4 2020.
Private banking posted revenues of €699m, an increase in revenues of 3.1% YoY, with the business benefiting from strong commercial activity in all regions. Assets under management (AuM) rose 12% to €130 billion in 2021. In Q4, net banking income amounted €171m, up 5.6% from the prior year quarter.
Lyxor’s AuM totalled €178 billion at end-December 2021, an increase of 15.5% compared to 2020.
As of 31 December 2021, the group’s consolidated balance sheet included debt securities issued of €13.3 billion (end-December 2020: €138.9 billion) and an outstanding for hedging derivatives of €10.4 billion (€12.5 billion).
The parent company’s long term funding programme raised €35.3 billion, including €19.9 billion of structured notes issuance, in line with amounts issued over the past years, and €15.4 billion of vanilla debt.
Funding conditions were competitive, and the average maturity was 5.1-years. An additional €3.8 billion was issued by SG subsidiaries.
The 2022 expected long term funding programme is approximately €20 billion of which approximately 50% was completed on 27 January 2021.
Click the link to read the Q4 and FY2021 results, presentation, and consolidated financial statements.