In an economic and geopolitical environment that has become tougher over the last two years, La Banque Postale Group reported higher profits in 2023, led by the insurance businesses.
These results reflect our diversified bancassurance model and contrasting performances across the business lines. Our Insurance division enjoyed favourable market conditions, as well as from CNP Assurances' multi-partner model in France and international markets. Our Retail Banking business line's commercial activity and results were particularly affected by the rise in interest rates, while our CIB business line delivered a resilient performance against a backdrop of higher interest rates and increased competition. Finally, our Asset Management and Wealth Management business line enjoyed strong momentum, led by positive market effects and the contribution of La Financière de l'Échiquier (LFDE), which was consolidated for the first time in 2023.
The highlights of the year were two major strategic transactions. First was the creation of CNP Assurances Holding, the umbrella entity for all the insurance businesses, which completes the creation of our major bancassurance group. Second was LBP AM’s acquisition of LFDE, creating a French and European key player in conviction-based asset management and multi-specialist solutions.
Thanks to the engagement of all our teams, we have also stepped up our commitment to sustainable finance, in particular with the roll-out of impact home loans and the launch of an impact infrastructure debt fund.
In 2024, we will pursue our strategic ambition and consolidate our leadership in sustainable finance. With the new management team in place since January, the challenge now is to accelerate the transformation of our banking model and manage our businesses more tightly. The aim is to build a more balanced and, consequently, a more sustainable model that will enable us to serve all our individual, corporate and institutional customers in a manner that exemplifies our purpose. Offering the best in bancassurance for everyone is what being a socially responsible bank is all about. And that's La Banque Postale's purpose.
A high level of solvency, with a CET1 ratio of 18.1%
Robust liquidity ratios, with the LCR at 146% and the NSFR at 132%
Broad deposit base, with demand deposits holding up better than the market and a high proportion of Retail Banking deposits (95% of the total)
CNP Assurances Group SCR coverage ratio of 253% at end-2023
Controlled risk profile, with a low non-performing exposures rate of 0.9%
CNP Assurances Holding³ created on 11 April 2023. Wholly-owned by La Banque Postale, it leads the Group’s insurance division comprising CNP Assurances SA (including its subsidiaries) and La Banque Postale’s four legacy insurance subsidiaries (Property & Casualty, Death/Disability, Health and Advisory);
Birth of a European key player in conviction-based asset management and multi-specialist solutions⁴. La Financière de l'Échiquier (LFDE) was acquired by LBP AM in July 2023 and will be merged with Tocqueville Finance at the end of March 2024. The partnership with Aegon AM was extended until 2035;
Planned closure of Ma French Bank (MFB), La Banque Postale's online bank. The closure process is expected to take 12 to 18 months and is the subject of information-consultation procedures with employee representatives. Closure costs of €107 million were recognised in 2023, including business-related asset write-downs and restructuring provisions;
La Banque Postale is the only bank to have an indicator to measure the impact of its activities on the environmental, societal and territorial dimensions. The Impact Weighting Factor (IWF), which is innovative and was co-created with WWF France, was implemented in 2023 and covers 64% of the bank’s financing activities⁵.
(1): 2022 figures restated following the application of IFRS 17 (see methodology in the Appendices section)
(2): RONE = Attributable net profit/Average risk-weighted assets capitalised at 14%
(3): Named “CNP Assurances Group”
(4): LBP AM offers a wide range of tailor-made solutions to meet the specific needs of customers in terms of financial and non-financial management objectives.
(5): Adopted on Asset and Project Finance, Commercial Real Estate Finance and Retail Home Loan.
Non-financial ratings: La Banque Postale was rated World’s Best Bank for ESG performance by Moody's ESG Solutions (74/100), AAA by MSCI, Best French bank and Third Best Bank Worldwide in the “Diversified banks” sector (out of a total of 329 rated banks) by Sustainalytics and A- by CDP with the “Leadership” level achieved for the fifth year running.
An enhanced range of socially responsible products to help individual customers support the just transition: an impact home loan offer has been launched and the IWF has been added to the criteria for pricing decisions.
LBP-LBP AM-CNP Assurances €1 billion impact infrastructure debt fund to help drive the energy transition: the fund will be financed by CNP Assurances, jointly allocated by La Banque Postale and LBP AM, and managed by LBP AM. It was launched in September 2023 and is classified as an “Article 8” fund for the application of the SFDR6 . It will finance projects aligned with the Paris Agreement.
The economic and geopolitical outlook for 2024 is still uncertain. Nevertheless, there are sign of improvement in some economic indicators, with inflation beginning to slow and interest rates levelling off after peaking at the end of 2023. Against this backdrop, La Banque Postale intends to pursue its strategic ambition and consolidate its leadership in impact finance. The strategy to accelerate the transformation of its banking model and build a more balanced and, consequently, a more sustainable model, is organised around three pillars:
Strengthen the organisation’s fundamentals:
Retail Banking will review its customer model in order to increase value creation by customer segment and improve penetration rates. This will be achieved without abandoning its community values, including its commitment to the most vulnerable customers. It will accelerate deployment of the multi-channel model and continue to ramp up the use of digital technology. The aim is to make digital services accessible via all channels and to bring ever greater immediacy, proximity and fluidity to the customer experience. Lastly, it will step up its efforts to improve operating efficiency, by pursuing the costcutting plan and the planned closure of its mobile bank, Ma French Bank.
Develop growth and diversification drivers:
La Banque Postale will continue the business line diversification strategy launched several years ago, in order to build a more balanced and sustainable business model.
It will pursue the community-based development of its corporate and investment banking arm, particularly among local public sector and corporate customers. It will also increase the value created by its private banking arm, Louvre Banque Privée. This will be achieved by developing its own wealth management franchise and lowering the barriers to access to the wealth engineering services offered by the private banking division. In addition, the Group will step up the development of LBP AM’s asset management business. The aim is to consolidate its position as the European key player in conviction-based asset management and multi-specialist solutions¹, with the integration of La Financière de l'Échiquier.
At the same time, CNP Assurances' multi-partner development strategy will be pursued in the life and non-life insurance segments in France and in its international markets. Lastly, La Banque Postale will continue to increase business synergies within the major public financial hub.
(1): LBP AM offers a wide range of tailor-made solutions to meet the specific needs of customers in terms of financial and non-financial management objectives
Transform the model to exemplify La Banque Postale’s purpose:
in order to consolidate its leadership in sustainable finance, and in line with its objective of achieving net zero emissions from its banking activities by 2040, La Banque Postale, which has been a mission-led company since 2022, will continue to implement its ambitious sustainability commitments. One of the main commitments is to deploy the Impact Weighting Factor and expand the range of bancassurance products and services that meet environmental, social and regional challenges. As well as improving the customer and co-worker experience, La Banque Postale will be carrying out a number of cultural transformation and co-worker engagement projects, to ensure that everyone plays a part in the organisation's performance and purpose