On the Paris Bourse, the share price fell by 7.8% to EUR 57.68 shortly after the opening, its biggest session decline since March 2023. It was followed by Société Générale (-3.4%), Crédit Agricole (-2%) and the Stoxx banking sector index (-1.42%).

In the fourth quarter, BNP Paribas' group share of net income fell by 50% year-on-year, to 1.07 billion euros, below analysts' estimates, who were expecting an average of 1.74 billion euros, according to a consensus compiled by BNP Paribas.

The Group's fourth-quarter net banking income rose by 0.1% to 10.9 billion euros, again below analysts' expectations, who were expecting an average of 11.4 billion euros.

The difference between BNP's results and forecasts is partly explained by a provision of 645 million euros to cover "net charges for risk on financial instruments", half of this amount corresponding to a long-standing dispute concerning mortgage loans in Poland.

BNP has also lowered its ROTE (return on tangible equity) outlook, stating that it will not be able to reach its 12% target before 2026 due to "various decisions by public authorities", including the European Central Bank's new reserve requirement.

The Group now anticipates a ROTE of between 11.5% and 12% in 2025, and has also reduced its target for the average annual growth rate of net income, Group share, over the period 2022-2025 to around 8%, from over 9% previously.

"The downgrading of 2025 targets is disappointing, even if the consensus is slightly below the adjusted forecast," commented RBC analysts in a note.

"Revenue trends are disappointing, but compensation remains favorable to shareholders", commented Jefferies analysts.

BNP Paribas, which has more than 7 billion euros in cash following the sale of its US retail activities last year, announced an increase in net income oflast year, announced an 18% dividend increase to 4.60 euros in cash, as well as a 1.05 billion euro share buyback program.

BNP Paribas has already used three billion euros of capital since January 2022, and still has 4.6 billion euros to redeploy, the bank said in its results presentation.

(Reported by Mathieu Rosemain, Augustin Turpin, edited by Blandine Hénault)