BNP Paribas said today that its investment solutions arm – the division containing much of its wealth management business – logged a rise in assets under management of 1.9 per cent in the first three months of the year compared with a year before, standing at €906 billion ($1.184 billion).

(Yesterday evening, BNP Paribas collected two awards at the inaugural WealthBriefing European Awards, held in London: European Private Bank - International Clients Team, and European Private Bank - UHNW Team.)

The rise was due primarily to a positive performance effect driven by the rise in the financial markets. Net asset inflows were €3.1 billion with “very good inflows” at the wealth management business, especially in Asia and in the domestic markets, the French banking and investment group said in a statement.

Other parts of the investment solutions division, such as insurance in France, Asia and Latin America, also had strong asset inflows, along with personal investors, especially in Germany.

After receiving one-third of the net income of private banking of the domestic markets, pre-tax income rose 12.7 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2012, to stand at €541 million.

Within the wealth and asset management segment of investment solutions, pre-tax income in the first quarter of this year was €197 million, down from €238 million in the previous three months but up from €190 million a year before.

BNP’s asset management business reported outflows, in particular in money market funds, but made “good asset inflows” in emerging markets.

The investment solutions’ assets under management segment broke down as follows: asset management: €404 billion; wealth management: €277 billion; insurance: €175 billion; personal investors: €37 billion; and real estate services: €13 billion.

Revenues, totalling €1.563 billion, rose by 2.8 per cent year-on-year.

Wealth and asset management’s revenues fell by 0.6 per cent due to asset management’s lower average outstandings and despite wealth management’s growth. Investment solutions’ operating expenses, at €1.054 billion, rose by 0.8 per cent compared to the first quarter 2012; there was a 2.5 per cent decline in wealth and asset management.

Group results

Across all divisions, BNP Paribas reported net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of €1.584 billion, compared with €2.869 billion a year earlier. The firm’s cost/income ratio in the first quarter of this year was 64.8 per cent, compared with 69.2 per cent a year ago.

Pre-tax income was €2.615 billion, a 33.6 per cent year-on-year decline.

BNP Paribas said its solvency was “very high” with a Basel 2.5 common equity Tier 1 (CRD3) ratio at 11.7 per cent and a fully loaded Basel 3 common equity Tier 1 ratio at 10.0 per cent, “confirming BNP Paribas as one of the world’s best capitalised global banks”, it added.