BNP Paribas Fortis delivered a net profit of EUR 2.6 billion in 2025

Statement by Michael Anseeuw, CEO BNP Paribas Fortis

Our volatile operating environment

When R.E.M. sung about the end of the world as we know it back in 1987, I believe that Michael Stipe was not referring to 2025. However, for many among us, the events of this and last year might feel like it. 2025 was a year of upheaval in many areas, driving reflection on the fundamentals of our society, our economy, our companies, and ourselves.

Geopolitical tensions escalated relentlessly in 2025, growing increasingly unpredictable. Beyond the protracted conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, even previously stable regions can suddenly become contentious, as shown by the unexpected dispute among allies regarding Greenland. Tariff shocks, and ‘Liberation Day’ in the US, coupled with NATO and EU strains – exemplified by the Euroclear debate – further eroded trust. All of this unfolded against the backdrop of exponentially advancing AI investments and capabilities, fuelling a technology and efficiency race between nations and companies.

Despite all this turmoil, markets performed very well in 2025, as if all these events were more ‘non-events’ from a market perspective. The S&P 500 surged with a total return of 16% (without dividends) in 2025, capping three consecutive years of exceptional performance. Meanwhile, the BEL-20 rose 19.1%, its best performance in five years and rising above the peak seen before 2007 financial crisis for the first time. Unsurprisingly in view of the global tensions, gold prices saw a record-breaking surge in 2025, while oil and gas prices remained relatively steady but higher in Europe compared with the rest of the world. European interest rates were on a downward trend, stabilising at 2% thanks to lower inflation, which was 2% in Belgium. As regards trade in Belgium, the shift can be seen most clearly with respect to China: imports from China have nearly doubled since 2020, whereas Belgian exports to China remain stable or slightly lower.

Overall, the Belgian economy held up well in 2025. The housing market remained stable and consumer spending stayed steady, while business investment continued to fluctuate. We expect Belgium’s economic growth rate of 1.1% in 2025 to continue into 2026, staying below the eurozone average.

Our evolving banking model

BNP Paribas Fortis’s banking model is built around diversification in both business and geographical terms, with universal banks in four European markets and specialised finance activities in 28 markets worldwide. As part of BNP Paribas, this model gives us a strong position from which to serve our clients amid all the current volatility and uncertainty.

We bolstered our position as a bancassurance distributor by selling our 25% stake in AG Insurance (closing in the second quarter of 2026), and by initiating a new 15-year distribution agreement with AG. This long-term commitment is allowing us to digitalise and industrialise our insurance services further. We also sold our stake in BNP Paribas Asset Management to BNP Paribas in 2025 as part of its deal to acquire AXA IM, creating a European leader in fund management to further strengthen our distribution capacity in innovative asset management solutions like private assets.

Satisfactory consolidated results

Our revenues grew by +7%* despite the impact of the normalisation of second-hand vehicle prices at Arval (+15%* excluding this impact), supported by all business lines. Our net profit clocked in at EUR 2.6 billion, -7%* year-on-year or +13%* excluding Arval’s used cars impact, despite the significant EUR 124 million increase in banking taxes and the EUR 251 million rise in the cost of risk, mainly in our Turkish operations.

Our Cost/Income ratio came to 56% and the Return on Normative Equity (RoNE) was 9.6%. With a CET1 ratio of 13.3% and a Liquidity Coverage Ratio of 138%, we remain a well-capitalised and secure bank, fully capable of financing our clients throughout the economic cycle.

Solid second half of 2025 in Belgium

Our activities in Belgium posted a net profit of EUR 1.5 billion in 2025, accelerating in the second half of the year (+10% compared to the first half, adjusted for IFRIC 21), driven by higher transformation margins, increased commission revenue and strict cost management, and despite elevated bank taxes: overall, the various bank levies rose by EUR 83 million or 24% to EUR 433 million. Net profit (net of banking taxes) increased by EUR 90 million (+10%) in the second half of the year compared to the first half, mainly driven by higher revenues of EUR 141 million (+6%), stable costs, but partly compensated by increase in cost of risk of EUR 35 million.

Loans rose by 2.2% to EUR 156.5 billion while deposits remained stable at EUR 162.0 billion. Compared with 2024, there was a shift in deposits from term accounts to current and savings accounts, as well as to off-balance sheet products (an increase of 6.3% in assets under management for off-balance-sheet products). We achieved a new loan production of EUR 35.2 billion (+5.6%).

Sustained growth of our Belgian activities

•Strenghtening our leadership position among corporate clients

Our corporate clients showed resilience in 2025, although trends varied. Among large corporates there were significant levels of M&A activity, international expansion and capital transactions, but the industry faced another challenging year marked by high energy costs, competition from China and cost-cutting measures. Business confidence remained relatively low, with business leaders showing little appetite for major investments. Over recent years, they have increasingly shifted capital expenditure away from expansion and towards streamlining and replacement investments, such as automating and digitising their operations and improving energy efficiency.

We strengthened our leading position in the Belgian investment banking market in 2025, increasing our market share, making our CIB activities the number one in the Belgian market, ahead of US and other foreign banks. This was a.o. supported by a very strong performance and good positioning in Equity & Capital Markets (ECM) and Mergers & Acquisitions. Particularly noteworthy deals were:

New loan production in Corporate Banking (including CIB) in 2025 was up 11.9% compared with 2024. In the local businesses segment, we posted a 17% increase in insurance fee revenues, confirming our ambitions as a bancassurance key actor in this segment.

As for our cash management activities, our leadership position allowed us to take over the Belgian federal government’s accounts, making BNP Paribas Fortis the sole payment provider for the Belgian federal government under which more than 50 million transactions are expected on a yearly basis.

Our business clients are taking up our digital banking service in large numbers. Business users of our digital channels rose by 19%, with mobile users surging by 51%. Corporate client satisfaction is also reflected in positive Net Promoter Scores (NPSs) across all segments, and they have been increasing in 2025. Among our large corporate clients, 89% consider BNP Paribas as their lead bank. Business leaders single out our high-quality relationship management and comprehensive coverage of client needs. Moreover, Euromoney named us Best Investment Bank, Best Bank for Large Corporates and Best Transaction Bank in 2025, while Coalition Greenwich named us Best Bank and Share Leader for Large Corporates and for Cash Management.

•Most accessible bank for retail and private banking clients

Consumer confidence stayed high throughout 2025, towards the end of the year increasing to levels not seen since 2021. With average assets of EUR 555,000 in 2024, Belgian households also remain among the wealthiest in Europe. That wealth is supported by widespread home ownership. The Belgian mortgage market continued to recover in 2025: the volume of mortgage applications we processed in 2025 increased by 14% with the average loan amount for a house purchase rising by 18%.

After integrating bpost bank and launching our Easy Go and Easy Guide service concepts in 2024, our focus in 2025 was on embedding the new model among our more than 4 million individual customers. Customer satisfaction as measured by NPS scores rose further among our retail clients while remaining consistently high in private banking. Private clients were very happy with the service provided by their relationship managers. BNP Paribas Fortis was voted Best Private Bank in Belgium by Global Finance and Belgium's Best Bank for Family Office Services by Euromoney in 2025.

The accessibility of Affluent & Private Banking (A&PB) is also reflected in our broad and locally embedded physical network. At the end of 2025, A&PB clients relied on 30 Private Banking and Wealth Management Centres, while Priority clients continued to be served in dedicated zones within our extensive retail banking branch network. Additionally, 656 Bpost branches were available to our clients, providing access to the largest branch network in Belgium. Clients could also use our digital channels, such as Easy Banking App and Easy Banking Web. In 2025, 82.9% of our A&PB clients were digitally engaged across these channels.

The bank further enhances accessibility through Privilege Connect, a dedicated round-the-clock priority line (including evenings and weekends) that ensures direct and expedited access to specialised advisors for urgent or sensitive matters. In 2025, our Relationship Managers had almost 1.5 million interactions with our clients.

To make our services even more accessible and inclusive, we added BNP Paribas Nickel’s products to the range we offer in Belgian post offices. Thanks to our unique local business model, Nickel is now alongside BNP Paribas Fortis the leading distribution network for current accounts in Belgium, with over 1,100 points of sale.

Our Easy Banking App (EBA) continues to attract new users. It now has 2.7 million active users and recorded 1.24 billion sessions in 2025. Our recently launched virtual assistant handled already more than 1 million customer interactions and achieved a higher inquiry resolution rate of 75% as a result of AI integration.

Our employees

Our 13,000 employees in Belgium showed great autonomy and flexibility during the year, while increasing their productivity by almost 3% thanks to our internal AI assistant Yara, which we deployed across our organisation. We continue to invest in our workforce: in 2025, every employee completed seven days of training, and we continued to hire at a steady pace, welcoming 435 new colleagues. Our strategic partnership with Accenture became fully operational in early 2026. The consistently high employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS) reflect BNP Paribas Fortis’ attractiveness to employees as a strong, modern and market-leading bank.

In conclusion, our commercial and financial performance in 2025 in a highly competitive and rapidly changing market – resulting in a ‘Bank of the Year’ award from the Financial Times – gives us a strong foundation that we can use to meet customer expectations in the most effective way. Our ambition is to be a financial services provider that always prioritises customer needs, and it would not be possible to achieve that goal without the dedication and flexibility of all our colleagues, to whom I offer my sincere thanks. I would also like to thank our customers for the trust they continue to place in our bank.

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Photo gallery Michael Anseeuw: