The French banking groups Q2 2024 revenues were boosted by a strong performance from the global markets business.

Société Générale has posted revenues of €6.7 billion (US$7.3 billion) for Q2 2024, up 6.3% from to the prior year quarter.

Equities performed very well across all activities, driven by high volumes in a conducive environment - Claire Dumas

Half-year revenues, at €13.3 billion, increased by 2.9% year-on-year (YoY).

The global banking and investor solutions business, which offers tailor-made solutions in equity derivatives, structured finance, and ESG, registered revenues of €2.6 billion, a 10% increase compared to Q2 2023.

Over the first half of the year, revenues grew by 1.9% versus H1 2023.

Global markets posted revenues of €1.6 billion for Q2 2024, up 15.7% YoY, thanks to a strong performance the equities business (€989m, up 24.4% YoY) which benefited from positive market conditions across all activities.

‘Equities performed very well across all activities, driven by high volumes in a conducive environment,’ said Claire Dumas (pictured), group chief financial officer, speaking during the earnings webcast on 1 August.

During H1 2024, equities revenues grew to €1.9 billion, up by 14.2% compared to the prior year semester.

The performance for the fixed income and currencies (FIC) business was also positive, increasing to €571m during the quarter (+3.0%), notably due to supportive client activity in the investment solutions business which offset the contraction in flow and hedging activities in a context of tighter spreads in rates and low volatility on foreign exchange rates. In H1 2024, FIC revenues were down 10.3% versus H1 2023.

Société Générale: Global Markets revenues (EURm)

Source: Société Générale Q2 2024 presentation

In Q2 2024, Société Générale issued around 4,580 publicly offered structured products worth an estimated US$5.4 billion – a 1.5-fold increase by issuance and up 10% by sales volume from the 1,777 products that gathered US$4.9 billion in Q2 2023, according to SRP data.

During H1 2024, the bank collected an estimated US$11.9 billion from 8,575 products (H1 2023: US$9 billion from 3,786 products).

Products for Q2 were sold across 15 different jurisdictions, with the highest issuance seen in Switzerland (3,850 products that were mostly autocall, barrier reverse convertibles) while the highest sales, at an estimated US$2.5 billion (from 188 products), came in SG’s home market France. 

Other European markets where the bank was active during the quarter included, among others, Germany, Italy, and the UK.

Outside of Europe, SG was the manufacturing company behind 272 products that were distributed in Taiwan to private banking clients of CTBC, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Cathway Securities and more while in the US it sold 25 unregistered notes for a combined US$31m.

On the secondary market, Société Générale issued more than 151,000 leverage products in the quarter (Q2 2023: 130,781). Of these, the vast majority (145,983 products) were targeted at investors in Germany, where it was the number one issuer of turbo certificates with a 20% market share – ahead of HSBC and Morgan Stanley – according to the latest statistics of the Bundesverband für Strukturierte Wertpapiere (BSW).

Funding

The group’s vanilla long term funding program is well advanced with an execution rate of approximately 85%.

As of 17 July 2024, €16.4 billion of structured notes has been issued. In addition, €17.6 billion of vanilla notes was issued, including €6.4 billion of pre-funding raised in 2023. Of these, €2.7 billion were secured notes; €5.7 billion senior preferred notes; €6.5 of senior non-preferred; notes and €1.2 billion of T2/€1.5 billion AT1.

End-June 2024, the group’s consolidated balance sheet included €161.9 billion worth of debt securities issued (31 Dec 2023: €160.5 billion) and an outstanding for hedging derivatives of €12.2 billion (€18.7 billion).

On 31 March 2024, the group’s common equity tier 1 ratio stood at 13.1%, or around 285 basis points above the regulatory requirement.

Click the link to read the Société Générale Q2 & first half 2024 results, presentation, and financial statements.

Do you have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Write to info@structuredretailproducts.com