The myriad of major concerns at present - both domestic and international - is hardly reflected in BNP Paribas' operations, as the bank appears to be navigating this complex economic environment with surprising success.

While, as expected, the investment banking division posted a fairly lackluster performance, the retail banking segment pleasantly surprised with very strong results. The same was true for the insurance and asset management arms - the latter bolstered by the integration of Axa IM - although this development had already been anticipated.

At the bottom line, pre-tax profit rose by 8.7%, while profitability reached a 10-year high. Simultaneously, the volume of stressed loans and non-performing assets remains at a 10-year low.

Like all major financial institutions, BNP is distancing itself from any potential peak stress in the "private credit" asset class, emphasizing that this represents only 3% of its total loan book - primarily to management firms - with none of these credits currently categorized as non-performing.

BNP's share price has recovered particularly well since our last earnings commentary, in which we noted that the group's market capitalization was trading at an arguably unfair discount of over one-third to its tangible book value.

This penalty seemed all the more undeserved given that the group had begun a rapid streamlining of its branch network - yielding substantial savings - and had established itself as the third-largest European player in asset management following its acquisition of Axa IM.

Despite significant share buybacks, it is true that y-o-y tangible book value per share grew only modestly, from €95.8 at the same time last year to €96.6 at the end of Q1 2026. It should be noted, however, that BNP distributed a very generous dividend in the interim.

The Boulevard des Italiens-headquartered group reported its highest EPS in 10 years last year, with - as mentioned above - profitability at a peak and non-performing asset ratios at a low.

In this context, its market capitalization is once again flirting with a multiple of 1x tangible book value - another 10-year high. However, for the third time in a decade, it has hit this ceiling.