BNP Paribas revealed it had 5 billion euros of exposure to Greek sovereign debt, the largest so far among major French banks, amid worries over wider contagion from the Greece debt crisis.
BNP on Thursday also posted first-quarter net profit that beat analyst forecasts, thanks to improved market conditions and the integration of Fortis, and said the economic recovery had begun.
Speaking on BFM radio BNP’s chief executive Baudouin Prot tried to calm fears that the Greek economic crisis could spread to Italy and Portugal.
“All the scenarios for the contagion of the Greek crisis to Spain and Portugal are unfounded,” he said.
However, he said that BNP had also decided not to reveal its exposure to euro zone countries aside from Greece.
“We have decided at BNP Paribas that we will not give any number on countries in the euro zone besides Greece,” he told Radio Classique.
The bank pegged its Greek sovereign debt exposure at 5 billion euros (US$6.49 billion), a day after rival Societe Generale said its exposure was 3 billion euros.
BNP also said yesterday that it had 3 billion euros in corporate commitments in Greece, mainly with international firms involved in maritime defense and with risks that had “minimal correlation” to Greece’s economy.
BNP’s other major French rival, Credit Agricole, has said its sovereign Greek exposure is 850 million euros.
French bank Natixis’ parent company BPCE said yesterday its exposure to Greece stood at 2.1 billion euros. Sovereign exposure was 1.4 billion euros.
This puts BNP firmly ahead of both French peers in Greek exposure. Unlike them, BNP does not have a significant banking subsidiary in Greece, and analysts see the group as less vulnerable to the broader Greek economy.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS