There is a growth problem behind this; both in terms of revenue and profit. It should also be noted that the volume of loans is lower than it was ten years ago.
Perfectly well capitalized—partly because customer deposits have increased significantly over the period—the bank headed by the Frenchwoman Marguerite Bérard remains very focused on its traditional lending activities.
It has not actively diversified its business portfolio, unlike, for example—on a completely different scale, of course—a group such as BNP Paribas, which happens to be Ms. Bérard's former employer.
See BNP still suffering a severe stockmarket discount, published last month in these same columns.
A few years ago, BNP was circling ABN with plans to buy the Dutch group. An acquisition would have made perfect sense: ABN operates in a small but high-quality market, while its discount on equity was extraordinarily pronounced at the time.
Regarding acquisitions, it was ABN that announced, on the publication of its results, the takeover of NIBC, the tenth largest Dutch bank with a very marginal market share. The transaction was completed at 0.85x the value of NIBC's equity.
ABN Amro is expected to generate EPS of €2.6 in 2025, with profitability struggling to reach double digits. In this respect, it remains one of the few European banks still trading below its tangible equity value.
However, this discount is less pronounced than that of BNP, and has tended to narrow significantly over the past 18 months, thanks in part to well-timed annual share buyback plans worth €500m.
Investors also welcomed the appointment of Marguerite Bérard earlier this year. Perhaps they see this as a prelude to a possible takeover of the Dutch bank by BNP.
