Key Takeaways
- French banks reported strong revenue growth in 2025, supported by solid performance in retail banking, insurance, and corporate and investment banking.
- Operating expenses grew significantly below revenue growth, driving the aggregate cost-to-income ratio down to 62% from 64% in 2024.
- Loan loss provisions rose in 2025 owing to lower releases and modest deterioration in asset quality.
The four large French banks—Groupe Crédit Agricole ACA; BNP Paribas SA BNP; Société Générale, S.A SocGen; and Groupe BPCE (BPCE; together, the French banks)—continued their upward trajectory in Q4 2025 and reported aggregate revenue growth of 5.4% year over year. For F2025, revenue growth was 4.9% with most segments performing strongly, and continued growth in fee and commission income supplemented good momentum in net interest income. Operating expenses were well managed in 2025, increasing only 2.0% year over year on aggregate, pushing the cost-to-income ratio (CIR) down further to 62% from 64% in 2024. Aggregate loan loss provisions increased by 10%, reflecting lower releases and a slightly deteriorating asset quality. Aggregate 2025 net income increased by 12.6% year over year, driven by SocGen’s exceptional performance (+55.6%) as the bank’s turnaround strategy bears fruit. Profit growth at BPCE was also strong at 15.6%, while BNP reported a more moderate, but still positive, increase of 4.6%, and Crédit Agricole lagged with growth of 1.3%. All four French banks expect further improvement in 2026.
Exhibit 1: Segment Revenue Breakdown—F2024 Versus F2025
Revenue Tailwinds Continue
French banks’ aggregate revenues totaled EUR 143.7 billion for F2025 (up 4.9% from F2024), a trend that accelerated in Q4 2025, when revenues were up 5.4% year over year. Favorable interest rates drove the rebound in French retail banking, which was the strongest performing segment in 2025 (up 7.5% year over year), followed by insurance (up 7.0% year over year). CIB also remained a growth driver, increasing by 4.5% year over year. BPCE once again reported the highest underlying revenue growth in 2025 at 10.3% year over year, as all its businesses performed well, especially the retail division. SocGen’s underlying revenue growth was 6.8%, excluding the impact of asset disposals. BNP’s underlying revenues grew 5.1% year over year, while Crédit Agricole reported a 4.9% increase.
On aggregate, French retail banking revenues, representing 33% of total revenues (Exhibit 1), improved by 7.5% year over year in 2025, accelerating to 11.1% year over year growth in Q4 2025. This reflects the lower funding costs following the European Central Bank’s rate cuts, as deposit rates declined and the deposit mix improved. This was further supported by the fact that loans are still repricing to higher rates and loan production has increased. Full-year revenue growth in retail banking was 3.3% for BNP; 5.2% for Crédit Agricole; 6.4% at SocGen; and 13.0% for BPCE, which has the largest exposure to regulated deposits.
CIB revenues, which contributed 29% to French banks’ total Q4 2025 revenues, were up 4.6% year over year in F2025 on aggregate, supported by strong trading results, although partly offset by a significant adverse impact from the weak U.S. dollar. BPCE reported the strongest trading performance, with fixed income & currencies (FIC) results up 15% year over year and equities up 14%. BNP also reported good trading results with FICC up 8.3% year over year and equities and prime services up 10.2%. SocGen’s trading revenues were up only 1.4% year over year, as both equity and FIC trading declined in the fourth quarter from a high base in Q4 2024, primarily because of lower client activity in Europe and Asia. Crédit Agricole does not break down trading revenues but reported capital market revenues that were 5.0% higher than in 2024. Investment banking business perimeters differ, and performance is not comparable from bank to bank, but in general, results were also positive. SocGen’s 2025 financing and advisory revenues increased by 5.2% year over year with strong growth dynamics in debt and equity capital markets, notably in the Americas. BNP’s global banking revenues were down slightly year over year despite what the bank characterized as a “good increase” in capital markets and advisory, particularly in the Americas, despite a challenging geopolitical and competitive environment. BPCE and Crédit Agricole reported year over year increases of 4% and 2.5%, respectively, in investment banking. We expect the trading momentum to extend into 2026. Growing merger and acquisition pipelines should also support advisory revenues.
Specialized financial services, private banking, asset management, and insurance reported a modest 0.8% year over year growth on aggregate in 2025, mostly dragged down by mobility finance, which is still adversely affected by used car prices. A 7.0% year over year increase in insurance revenues was driven by continued inflows into savings products and higher premiums for insurance products. Asset management also experienced strong inflows, but revenue performance was mostly flat due to exchange rate effects. Personal finance and leasing revenues generally performed well during the quarter, with higher volumes and better margins.
Operating Efficiency Improves Further
French banks managed aggregate operating expenses well; these were up only 2.2% year over year in 2025 (2.6% on an underlying basis), compared with a revenue increase of 5.4%, leading to a two-point improvement in the aggregate CIR to 62%. For Q4 2025, the year over year decline in the CIR was also two points (Exhibit 2). Overall, the gap among the French banks has narrowed further. SocGen reported a 2.0% decline in operating expenses (excluding disposals), as cost cuts continue to materialize, resulting in a CIR of 64%, down from 69% a year earlier. BPCE’s expenses increased the most, up 5.5% year over year (or 4.5% excluding exceptional items), but operating leverage was still positive because of the bank’s strong revenue increase, and the CIR declined to 67% from 70% a year earlier. BNP’s CIR edged down another point year over year to 61%, supported by disciplined cost management. Crédit Agricole’s CIR remained at 60%, although 2025 earnings were noisy due to the consolidation of Banco BPM and the de-consolidation of Amundi U.S. Crédit Agricole expects tailwinds for earnings in 2026, which should reduce the CIR.
Exhibit 2: Aggregate CIR (%)—Reported Numbers
Cost of Risk and Asset Quality Edging Up
Aggregate loan loss provisions for French banks increased 10% year over year for F2025 and 6% in Q4 2025 compared with 2024 numbers. The average cost of risk increased to 31 basis points (bps) from 29 bps in Q4 2024 (Exhibit 3), resulting from lower reversals for Stage 1 and Stage 2 loans and higher provisions for Stage 3 loans. Reported asset quality metrics deteriorated slightly for all French banks except SocGen (Exhibit 4). BPCE reported the largest increase in loan loss provisions in 2025, up 20% year over year compared with 2024. SocGen was the only bank to report lower loan loss provisions, driven by its smaller perimeter, as the cost of risk remained stable at 26 bps.
Exhibit 4: Stage 3 Over Gross Customer Loans
