BNP Paribas Fortis delivered a strong net profit of almost EUR 1.1 billion in the first half of 2025

Michael Anseeuw, Chief Executive Officer:

Our consolidated results

The bank generated a net profit up by 6%* excluding the normalization of used-car prices at Arval (down by 20%* including this impact), thanks to a growth in revenues of 3%* supported by all the businesses, and despite the significant increase in banking taxes by EUR 110 million and the rise in the cost of risk, mainly in our Turkish operations.

Our leasing activities at Arval saw healthy organic growth of 16%, partially offsetting lower revenues on second-hand vehicles from normalizing prices. We anticipate the end of the normalization effect in the near future as the used-car market continues to stabilize.

With a CET1 ratio¹ of 12.8% and a Liquidity Coverage Ratio of 125%, we are a solid and secure bank, fully able to safeguard our clients’ financial interests.

Our Belgian activities

Our activities in Belgium² posted a net profit of EUR 0.5 billion thanks to a growth in revenues of 2.5% and a very strict management of our costs (flat excluding the impact of the increasing banking taxes of EUR 83 million or +24%). Deposits and loans grew by 1.7% and 2.3%, respectively, with a shift from term deposits to current and savings accounts. Off-balance sheet products also increased, driven mainly by a rise of over 7% in mutual funds. Despite strong competition in the mortgage lending sector, we achieved 1.1% volume growth. We stepped up our financing for Belgian companies, raising our corporate loans by 3.1%.

Our environment

These results were achieved amid international instability. Geopolitical tensions had repercussions on the free movement of goods and people, access to markets and technological exchange. Furthermore, since April, tariff disputes have introduced fresh uncertainty into global trade. Our latest nowcast sees economic growth in Belgium at 0.3% at the start of the third quarter, higher than the slowdown recorded in the second quarter. We expect growth to remain positive this year, with Belgian companies showing resilience and consumer spending holding up.

Our customers

Our ambition to be Belgium’s most accessible bank was reinforced in the first half of 2025 through an expansion of our services and innovations across our digital and physical channels. Our total number of digitally active customers exceeded 3 million in the first half of 2025.

For our professional clients, we were the first Belgian bank to introduce Corporate Virtual Cards, a digital payment method that generates a card number on demand, enabling one or more time-limited transactions. This helps companies to make secure online purchases and manage working capital more effectively. For our corporate clients we continue to offer hedging products against inflation and interest rate risks. These make cost planning predictable in volatile times, allowing for continuing investments and job protection. We also entered into a strategic partnership to provide legal and administrative support to starters in Belgium, thereby simplifying and reducing the cost of setting up a business. In our market-leading private equity business, we are on track to reach the EUR 1 billion investment milestone by the end of this year.

Customer satisfaction with our Easy Go service offered through post offices increased significantly in the first half, demonstrating that our customers value our offering and services following the 2024 bpost bank integration. Our Easy Guide model also saw a strong year-on-year increase in customer satisfaction, while private banking and corporate clients continue to give consistently high satisfaction ratings.

Artificial intelligence has become a vital tool for our staff in improving the customer experience. Our combination of internal AI tools and prompt training has made us one of the most AI-literate workforces in Belgium, with 100% of our employees participating. Staff perceptions of AI’s impact on their roles have become more positive. From an operational perspective, AI has, for example, enabled significant improvements in our in-house software development, with gains achieved in approximately 100 business applications. This approach has been shown to enhance productivity and satisfaction by eliminating repetitive tasks. Other AI-driven initiatives include detecting payment fraud, automating credit applications to reduce errors and processing times, and, at Arval, real-time fleet analysis via Arval Connect to predict maintenance needs.

The financial markets platform Dealogic ranked us in first position in Investment Banking in Belgium in July 2025 by number of deals (47), market share (13.4%), and net revenues, with leading positions in areas such as Equity Capital Markets, Debt Capital Markets, and Syndicated Loans.

BNP Paribas Fortis has been named Belgium’s ‘Best Investment Bank 2025’ and ‘Best Bank for Large Corporates 2025’ by Euromoney, as well as ‘Best Private Bank in Belgium’ by Global Finance Magazine, among other awards. I would like to thank all our teams for their unwavering dedication to our customers’ interests, as reflected in these awards, and our customers for their continued trust in our products and services.

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Photo gallery Michael Anseeuw: