Barclays and BNP Paribas ended 2025 in a near-tie for fixed income trading revenues, the former taking a €6 million lead with €1.18 billion.
For the UK bank, this marks a 23% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline, but a 7% increase year-on-year (YoY). BNP Paribas’ revenues also fell QoQ, but less steeply – 6.6% to €1.17 billion – and it reported a 1.6% increase YoY.
During an earnings call, Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan noted that within the investment bank, “We have been investing heavily on technology and people, whether it’s bankers, whether it’s trading capability and of course, electronic trading capability. There’s been and continues to be tremendous investment in technology and capability.”
“The secret sauce of our investment bank is the synergies, our strength in fixed income and structured financing and the nimbleness of our approach with our clients and deepening the way in which we engage with clients,” he added.
At BNP Paribas, group chief financial officer Lars Machenil affirmed, “Global banking was impacted by lower margins in transaction banking due to lower rates but we had strong capital markets activities, particularly in the Americas. We also had very strong performance in global markets, both FICC and equity and prime services, as well as security services.”
Elsewhere, UBS overtook Societe Generale in fixed income trading revenues for the first time. The gap between the pair’s results has been narrowing since Q2 2024, but a 27% QoQ decline to €435 million for SocGen and a 17% increase QoQ €625 million for UBS saw the tables finally turn.
On a yearly basis, the French bank was down 13% while its Swiss competitor’s revenues rose 68%.
In its earnings call, CEO and director Slawomir Krupa commented, “We have exited commodities a way back and commodities were a driver of performance this quarter. Fixed income in our house is weighted towards rates and towards Europe more than the other jurisdictions.”
The bank further attributed its Q4 decline to a negative currency impact in its earnings call, alongside “challenging commercial dynamics in rates, notably in Europe”.
UBS’ CEO Todd Tuckner highlighted “strong top-line growth” in the investment bank this year during the bank’s earnings call.
“Our continued technology investment, combined with a highly regionally diversified platform and deep connectivity with global wealth management, continues to differentiate our markets business – supporting strong client engagement and sustained momentum.”
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