Societe Generale SA reported Thursday that its net earnings more than doubled in the fourth quarter, citing profits in its international retail and private banking operations, according to Associated Press.
The French bank said its net profit in the three months ending Dec. 31 was euro221 million ($303 million), up from euro87 million a year earlier.
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The bank also booked a euro732 million capital gain on its sale of a stake in its asset management business to French bank Credit Agricole SA last year. In addition, the company booked euro1.9 billion in provisions in the quarter, well above the euro1.4 billion it had forecast last month.
The charges boosted Societe Generale's total provisions for the year to euro5.8 billion, more than double the 2008 total. The bank blamed the charges largely on assets acquired by its corporate and investment banking division between 2005 and 2007.
Those charges weighed heavily on the bank's full-year profit, dropping it to euro678 million from euro2.01 billion in 2008.
The corporate and investment banking unit recorded net profit of euro623 million for the year, compared with a loss of euro1.9 billion in 2008, while revenue was more than four times as high at euro6.9 billion.
The bank will pay its traders euro250 million in bonuses for last year. The bank will also pay shareholders a euro0.25 per share dividend.
The bank's Tier One ratio rose to 10.7 percent at the end of 2009, up from 8.8 percent a year earlier.
In October, SocGen completed a euro4.8 billion capital increase to pay back a total of euro3.4 billion in government bailout funds. The rest of the money will strengthen SocGen's capital position and fund the acquisition of French retail bank Credit du Nord from Franco-Belgian lender Dexia SA.
The bank's stock fell 11 percent during the fourth quarter.
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