The coronacrisis has hit the European banking system hard
Five largest European banks lost nearly half of market cap. Source: shutterstock.com
StockApps has found that the market capitalization of Europe’s 5 largest banks dropped to $233.1 billion in August, which is a 42% plunge since the beginning of 2020.
In fact, HSBC, Europe’s largest bank by assets,? reported a 65% drop in pre-tax profits for the H1 2020 to $4.3 billion, down from $12.41 billion in 2019. The revenue dropped by 9% to $26.7 billion during the same period.
As of December 2019, its market capitalization stood at $161.5 billion. During the next three months, this figure fell to $114 billion.
The second-largest bank in Europe, BNP Paribas, lost $19.7 billion in market cap amid the pandemic. That’s a 26% plunge in eight months. In January, the combined value of shares of the French financial giant was $74 billion. The data reveals this figure stumbled to $54.3 billion in July.
As to Europe’s third-largest bank by assets, Banco Santander SA, it lost 49% of its market cap. According to the report, the Spanish bank had $66.97 billion in market capitalization in December 2019. By the end of August, this figure fell to $33.7 billion.
Nevertheless, Lloyds Banking Group reportedly witnessed the most significant drop in market capitalization this year. Its figure dropped from nearly $58 billion in December to $25.1billion in August. That means a 56% plunge in eight months.
Meanwhile, the market cap of ING Group, as the fifth-largest bank in Europe, fell by 32% since the beginning of 2020. Its combined value of shares dropped from nearly $47 billion in January to $31.8 billion in August.
We’ve reported that this fall, BNP Paribas will issue its first biometric payment cards with a built-in fingerprint sensor. The bank aims to roll out between 10,000 and 15,000 Visa Premier biometric cards, according to electronic and innovative payments manager Jean-Marie Dragon.
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