French bank BPCE to diversify business lines in profit push

PARIS (Reuters) -French bank BPCE, which is in the process of delisting its Natixis investment banking arm, announced plans on Thursday to increase profits by 2024, partly by increasing its focus on sustainable investing.

BPCE said plans to diversify Natixis' business lines should result in around 500 million euros ($590 million) of additional revenues for Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking in 2024.

It would also put environmental, social and governance (ESG) work at the centre of its asset management and insurance arms, targeting more than 600 billion euros in assets under management in the sustainable or impact investing category for Natixis Investment Managers, representing 50% of total assets under management by 2024.

BPCE, which runs France's second-biggest retail bank network behind market leader Credit Agricole, said its plans should bring in extra revenues of 1.5 billion euros in priority areas such as fund management, investment banking, insurance and payments solutions.

"At the end of this plan, we will not only have conquered new territories by supporting the economic recovery and the realization of our customers' projects but we will also have established Groupe BPCE as a front-ranking player in banking, insurance and asset management," said Chairman Laurent Mignon.

($1 = 0.8477 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-GuptaEditing by Mark Potter)