European banks beat Q3 profit forecasts; Brazil weighs on Santander

A string of European lenders reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results on Wednesday, easing some investor worries that the sector’s multi-year profit boom is fading, Reuters reports.

Who beat

• BNP Paribas: net income up 14% to €3.46 billion, above the €3.23 billion analysts expected; revenue €13.76 billion. The bank announced a €1.3 billion share buyback for November and said its exposure to French government bonds was limited, at about €19 billion.
• Standard Chartered: pretax profit up 27% to $2.25 billion, against a consensus of a 12% rise. It raised its 2026 income growth target to more than 7% and its return-on-tangible-equity target to above 14%. Its Hong Kong-listed shares jumped 8%.
• Deutsche Bank and Santander also beat forecasts, while UBS reported results broadly in line and accelerated its buyback.

Brazil and bonds

Santander’s results were clouded by weaker earnings and higher provisions in Brazil, where markets were rattled by President Lula’s re-election. In European trading Deutsche Bank rose 3.4% and Standard Chartered 3.7%, while Santander fell 4.2% and UBS 1.1%. European bank stocks have lost about 10% over the past month on worries about euro zone government debt exposure and a weaker economic outlook.