France's third-biggest listed bank Société Générale swung back to profit in the third quarter, as its equity trading business continued to recover from a weak start to the year.
Chief executive Frederic Oudea has accelerated initiatives to overhaul the bank's retail and markets activities after two consecutive quarterly losses.
SocGen said today that its net income rose by 0.9% to €862m, while revenue fell 2.9% to €5.81 billion in the third quarter.
"Q3 results illustrate the ability of all our businesses to rebound, after the exceptional lockdown period that we have experienced, and to adapt to a still very uncertain environment," Oudea said in a statement.
Equity trading revenue rose 5.1% year-on-year while fixed income trading revenue rose 9.4% in the latest quarter.
The bank has put equity and credit structured products under review earlier in the year after business was hit by market volatility and dividend cancellations due to the coronavirus crisis.
It said today that it was reducing its exposure to the most complex products.
