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BNP Paribas Prop-Trading Arm Lost $30 Million Before Closing

  • Opera unit’s income tumbled to less than EU3 million: filing
  • Executives shut division in January after poor performance
BNP Paribas SA Headquarters And Branches As Bank Fined $246 Million Over Currency Manipulation
Photographer: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg
Updated on

A BNP Paribas SA division created to make speculative bets for the bank’s own account lost tens of millions of dollars last year as trading revenue slumped amid volatile markets, leading executives to shutter the business.

Opera Trading Capital, which ceased trading in January, posted a loss of 26 million euros ($30 million) for 2018, filings show. Net banking income before operating expenses slumped 91% to less than 3 million euros, the worst result since Opera began trading in 2015, in a year that started with a sudden spike in volatility, moved on to repercussions from Turkish economic turmoil and was capped by a plunge in U.S. stocks.