- PARIS: BNP Paribas says its earnings slumped by half in the fourth quarter as France's largest bank suffered a 567 million euros ($747 million) loss on its holdings on Greek government debt amid last autumn's intensifying European sovereign debt crisis.
The bank said in a statement Wednesday it made 765 million euros in the three months to Dec. 31, down from 1.55 billion euros a year earlier.
BNP Paribas said that to offset the ongoing crisis it has slashed its holdings of sovereign debt by over a quarter and shrunk its medium- and long-term dollar financing needs by $53 billion, while boosting its loss provisions to cover a full 75 percent of its total exposure to Greek government debt.