(Bloomberg Opinion) — Diversification has been a blessing for BNP Paribas SA. France’s biggest bank is emerging from the economic carnage unleashed by the first wave of the pandemic better than competitors, even after losing money on derivatives. But absent a repeat of the buoyant trading markets we’ve seen this year, not even BNP can escape the pressures of souring debt and declining margins as the health crisis endures.
Bolstered by a 32% jump in trading revenue — better than Wall Street peers — third-quarter net income fell just 2.3% to 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion), BNP said on Tuesday. A 21% rebound in equities trading revenue was especially encouraging. Earlier this year the bank had suffered a hit from derivatives wagers, mostly linked to dividend payments. In the most recent quarter BNP also saw an improvement in services to hedge funds, which it’s in the…