Good morning. I'm very happy to be with you to see you for this annual General Assembly b etween the Board of Directors and you, the shareholders. I'm going to rapidly go through the opening formalities for this 2025 General Assembly. It's upon a summon. You know that it's an open public meeting. Some of you are not shareholders in the room. As each year, this meeting is going to be recorded under the control of three legal supervisors, and our General Assembly is going to be put online. In line with legal requirements, this General Assembly is going to be transmitted online, and you can find it for the next two years online. Consequently, your voice, your words, your presentations could be broadcast and disseminated.
Now we have to give you this piece of information in the beginning of the General Assembly. The next assembly is on the 12th of May 2026 at 10:00 A.M. in those premises, of course subject to unpredictable events. The main events have been published: Universal Document Management Report for 2024, including the Board of Directors' report concerning the group's activity, it is at your disposal, with the integrated report describing the group's activities and business on the basis of the BNP Paribas purpose on a long-term basis. There is a digital version if you wish. As each year, you have printed documents that have been given to you: pink for the agenda items and green documents for items pertaining to individual customers, items and issues, and answers are going to be given to your individual questions.
You also have audiovisual helmets and you will be in a position to send written questions. There is a space for clients' relationships and you have, of course, audiovisual headphones. You will have information about your banking situation, your wishes, and your projects. Finally, and I am speaking very sincerely here, I know that some of you, and I hope that not too many of you, have some problems with our reform. It is a new system, a new scheme which we have introduced last year in order to improve the assembly management based on a partnership. It is a platform. It is a new platform of shareholder services. I know that you have had some difficulties. Some of you have had difficulties concerning, for instance, the issuance of access cards for this meeting. My associates have made a lot of efforts in order to solve your difficulties.
I do hope that all those difficulties have been solved. Anyway, I'm really deeply sorry for those problems, but we will, of course, draw the necessary lessons from those problems and improve the scheme for next year. The Shareholders' Circle, is here, and if you want to talk about their activities, they are available to you. I am the Chairman of the assembly according to Article 18 of the bylaws. The scrutineers are here, and a certain number of corporate officers have accepted this mission. Thank you to [Mrs. Bovie]. She is Chairman of the investment company. [Mr. Chollet], who is the Chairman or member of the supervisory committee, they have accepted to be scrutineers and be members of the bureau. Thank you for being here. [Madame Guillen-Guillard] is the secretary, [Guillen-Dièvre], and the auditors of our bank are here too.
The Deloitte company is represented by Mr. Damien Leurent. The Ernst & Young company is represented by [Mr. Olivier Dullion]. They are here in the room on my right-hand side, on your left-hand side, and they are going to take the floor in a little while. The General Assembly has to discuss the agenda published in the official journal and in the bello. We have an agenda presenting all the items that have to be discussed. I am going to invite the hostesses to collect your written questions as rapidly as possible, please, in order to be able to get down to brass tacks. I would like to take advantage of this moment in order to give you further information. Go ahead, please. You can gather all the questions. I have a few minutes here.
This meeting can be held validly since 71.77% represent the quorum for this assembly, so we can discuss normally in the normal circumstances. We may have some slight adjustment, as often as it is often the case, so we can discuss. The necessary documents have been filed for this meeting to be held, and they are available to you if need be. Questions have been collected and gathered. We can have music if you want. There are a few shareholders coming in yet. Welcome. I think that we can start. Questions have been collected, and we can start the meeting. Let's get down to brass tacks, as I said, and we have to discuss, w e have to welcome the members of the board of directors. They are all here present.
We are going to report their work and the work of the board members. Thank you for being here. I would like to welcome as well the members of the liaison committee with the shareholders who are present as well. They play a very important part. It is very helpful to us in smaller committees, of course, with their contributory proposals and their ideas, and we try to take that into account. Anyway, the members of the board and the members of the liaison committee are here. Thank you for your presence today. Before giving the floor to the senior management, CFO, CEO, CSR manager, I would like to make a few remarks concerning the activities in 2024 and in the beginning of 2025.
2024 has been a year which has been influenced by an economic improvement, particularly for inflation, with a recovery and return of growth in France as opposed to in Europe and a sustained growth in the U.S. In a little while, Laurent is going to talk about that. Jean-Laurent is going to talk about that. Obviously, 2024 has been a very good year from an economic point of view in the U.S.A. and, of course, a hopeful year in Europe. 2024, at the same time, has been also marked by sustained political tensions, geopolitical tensions in several parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East and in Ukraine. You know very well that we watch closely these events, which are very painful for the populations concerned and painful for some of our employees in Ukraine who apply their trade in difficult conditions.
I would like to have a thought for them this morning. These geopolitical tensions are sustainable. They are going on this year. 2025 has been characterized up to now by new trade policies in the U.S. New policies in the U.S. We do not know how it is going to be developed all throughout the year, and there have been new decisions during the past weekend with opening discussions and negotiations with several other countries. All those negotiations and new policies create uncertainties and instability in the world. I do hope that on a medium-term basis, there will be a more stabilized, different economic environment. In 2025, we had a lot of uncertainties for the bank, for our bank, and particularly for our customers in the U.S., in Europe, and elsewhere around the world.
Small and medium companies, large companies, and individual customers have been impacted by this new situation. Everybody is trying to understand and forecast what is going to happen in the future and take the necessary measures. We are very close to our customers in order to have them assess correctly this monetary and economic new situation. In this environment, as far as the board is concerned, we have reviewed the situation very closely, and in Europe, we are trying to understand what is happening. We want to showcase our economic model and values and also take up the structural organizational challenges. Those are very significant challenges for the board. We have to take decisions for several states as far as the budget is concerned and increase. Some states have to increase their military and defense budget and also upgrade their infrastructures, particularly in Germany.
Several European economies are very buoyant. The interest rates are going down in Europe, and there are regulatory simplification commitments that are quite welcome and also simplification of the capital market. You know that BNP Paribas wanted to do that for a long time. So we're quite ready for these new policies. In 2025, we can see that Europe is discussing a lot about trade policies, and Europe has good reasons to hope for a rebound, a recovery. We are ready for that too. BNP Paribas is probably one of the better placed banks for this situation. In 2025, the economic situation is a little bit sluggish in view of the uncertainties, but probably those uncertainties are going to be less obvious than in 2024.
Probably in 2026 and 2027, we are going to have a more buoyant activity because Europe's financial system is going to be modernized. The BNP Paribas business model is quite appropriate. Jean-Laurent Bonnafé is going to talk about that. We are ready to support our customers in these developments on a short-term and medium-term basis, as well as in Europe. We are going to support our clients in security and investment efforts, and also we are going to support our customers in their artificial intelligence integration and innovation. This is very important concerning our activities, and we are keeping in mind, of course, that we want to have a sustainability trajectory. We want to support our customers, companies, institutions, and investors in their major transformation investment in order to make our economy more sustainable.
This is also about energy transition and also support of efforts that are made by our companies. Laurence Pessez is going to make a presentation in order to talk about the bank activity in this area. Now, our results for 2024 are quite strong, and our group is very solid. The objectives have been reached and also exceeded sometimes. The bank has committed itself to an ambition trajectory for 2025 and 2026. The board of directors has decided and supported this course of business, and we're hopeful that this will be implemented thanks to a stable and experienced management team. I'll come back to that later. Thanks to the strength and solidity of our model, integrated model, thanks to the senior management action, we have several platforms in order to optimize the services given to various categories of customers.
Also, thanks to the commitment of all the employees, all the teams in the bank, thanks to you, the shareholders, and thanks to the customers' trust. The Board of Directors is also very confident in the bank's ability to deliver value around the investment program that has been defined. You may remember discussions two years ago and last year, particularly after the disposal of Bank of the West. You remember we discussed strategic courses for the bank, and we have a project which is an acquisition project for AXA . I am in this in order to create more value for the bank now and in the future. This bank has solid results, strong projects, and a solid senior management in order to remain solid and prosperous and buoyant.
I wanted to make these few remarks on behalf of the board of directors, and the work of this board is intense, really an in-depth work based on dialogue with the senior management. We have ongoing discussions with the senior management team, and I will come back to that later. I want to thank in front of you the CEO because of the relationship with the board and also the way the bank activities have been conducted. It's very solid, very strong, and it paves the way for the future. Before giving the floor to the senior management representative, I would like to show you a video, an institutional film, which is going to recall the salient points for 2024. Review of the highlights for 2024 for BNP Paribas.
Consolidating our European leadership thanks to external growth transactions, the plan to acquire AXA Investment Managers, the plan to acquire the private banking part of HSBC in Germany, investing into technology to create added value, signing an agreement with Mistral AI, the French startup in artificial intelligence specializing in generative AI. More than 800 use cases of AI solutions currently being deployed, supporting and serving the needs of our clients. Supporting our clients, be they institutional clients, small and large businesses in their developments and in their transitions everywhere they operate in the world. Supporting our retail clients, meeting new needs and expectations with Wero, the new European wallet solutions, coming up with new mobility solutions for both our clients and our employees, financing the energy and environmental transition.
We are the number one in the world in issuance of bonds, green bonds, EUR 179 billion in this respect, 13 awards received in the Euro Money Awards, including that of the best bank for financial inclusion and the best bank for security services. In 2024, BNP Paribas is positioned as the first European CIB, signing a new deal with the Trade Union Federation, Uni Global Union, reinforcing the social and employee foundations for more than 178,000 people, serving and supporting inclusion, celebrating the 40 years of the existence of the BNP Paribas Foundation with 40 annual events being organized, giving power to those who take action through three fields of action: solidarity and mutual support, environment and culture. Thank you very much for your attention. This short video basically reviews the highlights for fiscal 2024, which is a momentum year after year, which has been consolidating your bank.
It's very important that you have them in mind. I will now turn over to Lars Machenil, the CFO of the BNP Paribas Group, who will be walking you through the numbers of fiscal 2024.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, good day. I will be reviewing the very fine performance of BNP Paribas, your bank, in fiscal 2024. You have lots of numbers on this slide. Looking at the middle net income, you will see that they are round numbers. In 2024, net income was EUR 11.7 billion, up 4.1%. Now, looking at the income statement, revenue number one, revenue also up 4.1% over 2023, which reflects the fact that your bank has been serving and supporting its clients and the economies. Operating expenses have been increasing by 2.1%. The difference with the increase of revenues is what we call the jaw effect.
This jaw effect reflects the fact that we have been supporting growth and expansion of our clients via the platforms, and these are where the costs are. Looking at the cost of risk of 33 basis points, one percentage point above last year's, which is below the 40 basis points target that we've factored in through the cycle, which reflects the cautious way your bank has been managing risk. So much for the income statement. Now, the balance sheet. The balance sheet is the bottom part of this slide. Let's first look at the net book assets at EUR 93.70 per share, up 7%. If you look at the next row, this is the net profit per share, the number of shares, knowing that last year we bought shares. The increase of the net profit per share is 8.9%.
Now, with respect to shareholder return, dividends in cash was EUR 4.79 per share, and it will be paid out next week on the 21st of May. In addition to this, we have planned for a share buyback program with the clearance from the ECB in the order of EUR 1 billion. In addition to this, this year, we'll be introducing a down payment of dividend payment for the first half year in September. We'll pay out dividends, that is 50% of dividends, which has been usual for the last few years. So much for the items of income and profit. Now, remember that your bank has had a resilient and robust model. Looking to the left of the slide, as I said, your bank has been operating through industrial strength platform. And looking at the chart to the left, you can see the breakdown of revenues across our businesses.
You will see that no business is dominant over the others. They also operate across different economic and business levers with a good complementary fit. This complementary fit, you can see to the right, where you show the cross-sale, i.e., when you have a client, 1/3 of the revenue is generated by so-called cross-sale across the divisions of the BNP Paribas Group. Now, revenue side, we have given you the total BNP Paribas numbers. Now, let's look at the revenues for the three large divisions. I told you that the revenue is up 4.1%. As our Chairman said, we beat our target, which was to increase our revenue by 2%. Now, looking at the three divisions, starting with the CIB, which is the second column from the left, which includes market operations, and with an increase in revenue of 8.4%. So much for CIB.
Going far right, which is the insurance and asset management business, investment and protection services, up 4.2%. The business in the middle is commercial, personal banking and services. In Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, and the Euro-Mediterranean area, as well as specialized businesses, including Arval. Looking at the CPBS, you can see that this division is up 2.3%, which is offset by negative change in the specialized business, including Arval, with the value of used cars going down. Almost a stable revenue from CPBS. Now, looking at costs and operating efficiency. On the left-hand side, you can see the group view up 2.1%, which is the jaw effect at the group level. Now, looking at the divisions for CIB, you can see that it is up 4.5%, operating efficiency up 4.5% to support growth.
You understood that revenue was up 8%, which gives you a positive jaw effect of 3.9%. Now, going all the way to the right, looking at investment and protection services with expenses almost stable, expenses up 0.5%. Remember that the revenues increased by more than 4% with a jaw effect of 3.7%. Now, looking at the middle, looking at the CPBS division, on the one hand, you have a change in cost of 1.9%, increase of 1.9%. Looking at the specialized businesses, expenses are down. On the back of the adapting, we are for personal finance. Looking at the commercial banking, the expenses are up 3.2%, which is mainly due to inflation in Europe and especially in Turkey. So much for the change in the expenses across the three divisions. Now, looking at the three divisions with some more detail, looking first at CIB.
Now, CIB, remember, has a business franchise which is unique across European banks. Remember that CIB has a diversified model which builds upon the three business franchises I mentioned, Global Banking, Global Markets, and Securities Services, which provides strong accelerating revenues, as you can see in the top chart, with growth above the market level. This CIB of your bank is the only one in the Eurozone to offer full-fledged integrated services. This is reflected in the chart bottom right, where you can see how the banking CIBs position themselves in Europe and the Mediterranean area. You can see that BNP Paribas ranks third in the EMEA zone. Now, looking at CPBS, our second division, CPBS in 2024 demonstrated very robust sales and business [audio distortion] against headwinds.
Looking at the bar chart top left, you can see in commercial banks the very strong increase in fees, i.e., services we offer to our clients offer higher margins. Looking at the chart top right, showing resilience and showing the revenue for Arval. Now, let me give you some explanation. What you can see here is revenue levels from 2021 all the way to 2024. Now, looking at the dark or blue line, this line shows the change from the fleet of vehicles of Arval, which is up. Looking at the bars in dark green, in fact, this shows the financing operations and the services being marketed and sold, which are up as a proportion to the increase of the fleet. We can note that the fleet increases and the revenues associated with the fleet are on the upside as well.
Above the dark green bars, you have the light green bars, which is the revenue associated with the second-hand cars. Remember that when a client takes a car, the client keeps the car for four years, and then the car is sold after the four-year period. Usually, the value of the car is quite stable. Four years down the road, when the client sells or when Arval sells the car, the price has been programmed and anticipated. In 2020, there came the Corona virus pandemic, which has had an impact on the automotive industry, including the OEMs and carmakers with fewer new cars, but people still needed cars. The price of second-hand cars increased significantly, which meant that when the car was to be sold four years after, it was sold at a higher level. These are the light green bars that you can see.
This lasted in 2021, 2022, and 2023 with higher contribution from the second-hand cars. Now, 2024 is back to normal with this contribution going down compared with the previous years. It will go down to zero in 2025 and 2026 with Arval going back to its intrinsic growth because the fleet, as well as the associated services. So much for the substance and the flesh. I wanted to give you on the sound commercial performance and resilience from CPBS. Now, looking at the third division, which is IPS. IPS registered very strong growth. First, remember that in IPS, you have protection products, saving products, and responsible investment products and solutions. As you can see here on this chart, you can see that assets under management did increase across the three divisions. When you look at pre-tax profit, it increased 8% in this division.
Now, looking at the cost of risk now, cost of risk has been well controlled, as I said in my introductory remarks on the back of very strong quality levels and the diversified way we've managed our portfolio. As you can see in the top bar chart, you can see that from 2019 all the way to now, forgetting 2022, which was impacted by a one-off provision after the pandemic, which was reversed after that. Cost of risk, looking at the basis points, taking the assets under management, and factoring in the cost of risk percentage, i.e., 0.3% of the assets under management with a target which was 40 basis points. We are much below this target. Another piece of information to show is the chart at the bottom. You can see the cost of risk as a percentage of exposure, which is quite low.
Now, looking at the cost of risk compared with the gross operating income, the gross operating income, GOI, is revenue minus expenses. Now, we are looking at the percentage, which is factored in in cost of risk. You can see that this percentage goes down year after year, which reflects the changes we have made in the underlying businesses like personal finance and BNL, which generated a continual improvement of the cost of risk structure. Now, looking at another item, which I mentioned, I told you about the P&L statement. I told you about the balance sheet numbers. Now, let us look at the financial structure. Now, remember that your bank, BNP Paribas Group, wants to have a capital ratio of 12%. 12% is our capital ratio target. Now, looking at the change in the course of 2024, this is the top bar chart.
Far left, on the 1st of January 2023, we stood at 13.2% of the core equity tier one ratio. After that, in the course of the year, we generated capital through the upstream of income, 60% being returned to you as shareholders, the other 40% being kept to bolster the growth and expansion of the bank, which has increased our equity, our capital structure. We have kept redeploying the capital on the back of the disposal of Bank of the West, which utilized 15 basis points. There was a change last year in the regulations to anticipate for the Basel IV regime, which kicked in today, which meant that Arval had to be reconsolidated. The impact of that was 45 basis points. We started at 13.2% on the 1st of January 2024. With these changes, we ended 2024 at 12.4%.
Something happened over New Year's evening, which was the coming into force of Basel IV with the utilization of 50 basis points. As of December 31, 2024, we stood at 12.9%. The day after that, because of Basel IV application, we went down to 12.4%. All this was well anticipated. Because there is still some uncertainty about the application of some regulations, knowing that the European Union wants to be aligned with the U.S., we want to stay at 12.3% this year. So much for the equity, so much for the capital. There is another series of indicators like the liquidity ratio at 137%, liquidity coverage ratio, LCR. This is not telling so much as an indicator. We also expressed this ratio as liquidity reserve immediately at hand. In late 2024, it stood at EUR 480 million.
This accounts for your financial structure of your BNP Paribas Banking Group. To conclude this presentation on the 2024 numbers, remember that there is a shareholder return, you as shareholders, with this return being attractive. 60% of the payout ratio for 2024, 2025, and 2026 will be in the order of EUR 20 billion in total. This shareholder return has been up continually year after year. Looking at the dividend payout, and you have the bar chart at the bottom, there are many of them. We are showing the change of dividend paid out in cash from 2008, far left, all the way to the one we will be paying next week. This shows a change which has increased by a factor of five, which is the change of this shareholder return that you directly benefit.
I would like to thank you for your attention. I will turn over to Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, who will go into some more detail about the outlook for your banking group.
Thank you for giving a round of applause to the CFO. It doesn't happen very often. Now, what about the forecast for the group? To close the 2024-2025 plan, we have set the threshold at a high level. The objectives are quite high for income, more than 5% growth two years in a row. Jaw effect, you know what that means. + 1.5 percentage points over two years, 2024-2025, two following years. Our cost should not rise in price, increase more than the top line, our income - 5%.
In order to reach 5%, we need to invest, and we need to invest all the while having a jaw effect, which will guarantee the group performance on a long-term basis. Cost of risk should remain below 40 basis points, and this should lead to net income + 7% and EPS or earnings per share + 8%. You know that EUR 1 billion of the income is devoted to earnings per share. The quarter one ratio, CET1 ratio, which represents the bank strength before switch to FRTB, should reach 12.3%. It should not be below 12.3%. At present, it's above this threshold of 12.3%. Growth drivers, CIB platform with very high added value, very strong growth driver, and it has market share gains every year. We expect 2026 for CPBS, which has suffered from the rate environment over the past few years.
We have a strategic plan for PCEF, commercial bank in France, and another one for personal finance, consumer credit, consumer loans. This is a continuation of the first industrial plan, which has been initiated and is going to be continued up until 2028. IPS, organic growth, very buoyant, insurance, wealth management, asset management, wealth management and asset management, external growth, AXA IM, wealth management with the acquisition of the HSBC activities in Germany, and also life insurance with various acquisitions which have been completed in 2024 or 2023. On the whole, we'll have a ROTE quite good, which is quite good. 2024, 19%, in 2021, 20%, and 8% in 2017. We have a good progression. 2025, 11.5%, 12% next year. We will have various initiatives which will be launched. BPCF and PF strategic plan represent by 2028, one additional percent in ROTE from 2025 to 2028.
Then we have the Wealth Management and AXA IM project starting in 2026 until 2030. By 2028 or 2030, we'll have the beginning of an impact from the capital market in Europe in order to increase our efficiency for finance in Europe. This would lead to a return on equity which will be higher. We have already started to do that. Between 2026 and 2028, it will represent one additional point in ROTE, and it could lead to even 13 points. If you look at CIB more in detail, you know the history of that. It's a platform which used to be focused on the strong points, the highlights. It has been improved. The CIB platform has been improved. Service quality has been improved in order to make them more competitive. It has been brought into services that have to be delivered.
In the beginning of 2021, it has become a comprehensive platform. Leading to services to the European market or even the worldwide market, a very competitive market which can be compared positively to the champions in this area, the American bank. The income, CIB income, has increased much more than the market, 6.8%. A 3% increase in 2024. The cost income ratio has reached 60%. Now, you can see profitability, more additional 10 points. You can see that discipline has been complied with concerning the cost of risk and credit risk. We are going to continue to progress as far as CIB is concerned. We are going to have in the future European capital markets that will have very strong specificities, the underlying European specificities. We will make progress with our CIB platform. We are very hopeful for the future.
CPBS has suffered from the interest rate environment in France as well as in Belgium. You have fixed interest rate loans, particularly the home loans that are proposed to the customers based on fixed interest rates. The customers are protected because they will keep the original or the basic interest rate in case of increase, which is very different from what is happening in the other countries where the customers are not so much protected against interest rate increases. CPBS next month in June is going to initiate a new strategic plan by 2028. It leverages our best franchises, private banking, and wealth management where we have market leaders in France. For individual or retail banking, we are going to organize some new approaches, upselling, change in the relationship model, operational adaptation to this transformation.
For personal finance, IPS, we are going to refocus personal finance on the European area, the U.S. And our income growth should be very strong in 2025, 5% in 2025. We want to increase the customer selectivity to reduce the cost of risk and with absolute value throughout the cycle. It represents half the risk, half the cost of risk of the group. It is very necessary to be very disciplined in this area. We want to develop partnerships as far as mobility is concerned. Consumer loans are very important in the mobility environment. Everything that concerns the new retail models, the major large platforms requires very high quality services. This is what we do in personal finance. We want to optimize our operational models in order to make them more efficacious.
On the whole, Personal Finance and CPBS represent one fourth, 25%, of the risks of the group, of the capital used by the group. The RONE pre-tax income is going to increase by 8 percentage points by 2028, a minimum of 17%. This results for the whole group after tax. ROTE increased 12%, which is our objective for 2026, is going to be completed by 2028. We will have 0.5% that will come from these two initiatives between 2026 and 2028. We will reach 12%. The other 0.5% will come from other projects, Wealth Management, AXA IM, and CIB. Let's come back to the IPS business. IPS, this is a growing division, strong organic growth with a high level of profitability. Before tax income, growth 8.4% for RONE, growing 21.9%. This represents only 6% of equity consumed or used.
This is a disciplined growth. You can see that on the right-hand side of the slide. The income is growing more than the cost. We have an external growth with AXA IM, wealth management in Germany, buyback of HSBC business partnerships, and the insurance business. This is going to make it possible to roll out IPS more rapidly in the group. Those 14% of contribution should increase to 20% and probably 25% in the end. Of course, the other divisions are going to make progress as well. Fourteen by 2020 means that this is going to represent a major progress. IPS is in good condition, strong increase of organic growth, strong external growth. 40% of the West bank have been reinvested in IPS, even though IPS represents 14% of pre-tax income and 6% of the use of equity.
This is going to lead to very good results in the next few quarters and years. This platform is a continuation of our CIB activities, originate to distribute a model and a very strong synergy with the commercial banks, and also a very strong synergy with specialized activities and personal finance, consumer loans through the credit insurance business. Now, I would like also to talk about industrial and operational efficiency to end my presentation. Jean has mentioned that we try to build a group based on efficiency platform with scale impact in order to increase our efficiency during our development. Above on the left-hand side, you have a representation of this efficiency between 2022 and 2026. On the whole, for this period, 2022-2026, we will have accumulated EUR 3.3 billion additional efficiency.
In 2026, we will have EUR 3.3 billion additional, which represents 3.3% of the EUR 30 billion for the group. Of course, artificial intelligence is going to be used for the savings. In 2024, we had a EUR 500 million value increase allocated or resulting from AI. By 2026, it will be EUR 750 million attributable to AI, particularly resulting from an increase in operational efficiency. As of now, the objective of EUR 500 million value creation has been achieved. It has been achieved by 2024, as I told you. It is a reality we have to deal with, and we have to manage this reality. Everything that we are doing has to comply with the banking supervision regulations and also other regulations. This, of course, has to be in the interest of our customers. We have to explain everything we do to our customers and to our supervisors.
It is true that AI means that we give part of our work to platforms, and those platforms are based on a different intelligence, AI. It is not so simple to explain how it works. Probably, we will have some applications that could theoretically be given to artificial intelligence, but we will not be given to artificial intelligence because it would be too difficult to explain. We are not certain to be able to explain to each individual customer why the AI platform has given the right advice or the right service. Some things are relevant for our customers, and each customer is an individual customer, and we cannot have a statistical approach when we talk to our customers. You have to understand that the group is on a very ambitious course.
We are continuing with our various lines of business, CIB, strategic plan for CPBS and personal finance, and organic and external growth both for IPS. All this is based on discipline and cost control and also risk control, which, of course, is very important for the income statement of the bank.
Thank you. Hello everyone. I will now be reviewing some key aspects in our CSR strategy and to show you some of the key achievements in 2024. Our CSR strategy has been initiated a long time ago, representing one of the pillars of our current strategic plan, which is called Growth, Technology, and Sustainability. Now, let's start with how our strategy has been perceived by the external actors. To the far left, you have the rating, the non-financial rating agencies, which are agencies which compare and benchmark banks with other businesses.
Across all rankings, we are among the leaders, including in the environmental rankings. We rank among the best in the world. Now, based on this excellence, we keep improving year after year. We are extremely satisfied this year by the silver medal awarded by EcoVadis for the first time. It is an award which is very useful when we respond to calls for tenders because companies we serve and support look to such awards. With respect to other awards, the Corporate Knights magazine has ranked us among the global 100 most sustainable corporations for the 11th year in a row. Euromoney has awarded us the best global bank for financial inclusions. In 2024, our CSR strategy remained unchanged, and we continue delivering across the areas that we set for ourselves as key priorities as part of our GTS strategic plan.
Number one, energy transition, protecting biodiversity, circular economy, financial inclusion, and sustainable investment. Now, the amount of the support we give to finance the transition to a low-carbon economy reached EUR 179 billion between 2022 and 2024 across a three-year period. Our target for 2025 of EUR 200 billion seems to be reachable. Now, this amount covers such financing to retail clients to fund the purchase of electric vehicles, home renovation with respect to thermal insulation, as well as support to large industrial corporations where we structure financing to improve their energy efficiencies, as well as bond issuance to multilateral operators like the African Development Bank, which will contribute to developing renewables in and across the African continent.
Now, with respect to biodiversity, with respect to transactions directly contributing to protecting Earth and sea biodiversity, we exceeded our goal of EUR 4 billion, which was our goal for 2025, and we reached EUR 5.4 billion. As an example of what this number means, a financing project for Elia Transmission in Belgium, which is the manager of the high-voltage power grid, will contribute to a program of reforestation under the high-voltage lines in Belgium. With respect to sustainable saving, by reaching EUR 285 billion in assets under management in late 2025, considered to be sustainable under the European taxonomy, BNP Paribas Asset Management has the most diversified sustainable fund portfolio. BNP Paribas Future Forest Fund, as an example, which was launched in late 2024, is an Article 9 fund which is dedicated to the sustainable management of forests.
This is an example of the products that we offer at BNP Paribas Asset Management. Now, with respect to circular economy, BNP Paribas, 3stepIT, which is a joint venture between BNP Paribas EC Solutions and a Finnish company called 3stepIT. This venture was launched in 2019 and offers services and reconditioning and retrofitting for IT devices, including smartphones and tablets. We have set up a new refurbishing center in the Greater Paris area, which will recycle 400,000 devices. At the financial inclusion level, we have now 5 million new beneficiaries with some 700,000 beneficiaries of the so-called EcoCredit that we've been funding. Behind all these numbers, there are great and very tangible accomplishments.
We are just a few weeks from a global conference on the sea, which will take place in Nice, southern France, and we wanted to take this opportunity to share our commitment to protect the seas and oceans, which is of capital importance, which intersects with climate, biodiversity, and pollution. We pioneered the way in this respect as early as 2019 by publishing a strategic paper reviewing all our drivers of action to protect seas and oceans via our funding, financing, and investment operations. Five years down the road, we've achieved many, many tangible actions. We committed to devoting more than EUR 1 billion to fund environmental vessel transition, and this goal was much exceeded. We also dedicated some $2.4 million to finance the management of protected sea and marine areas by structuring blue finance, innovative financing.
We also invest in startups protecting oceans like Bluefin, which is based in Brest in Brittany, which has decarbonized shipping, and Austria, based in Rennes, which produces materials using a recycled shell. We have savings products to favor biodiversity thanks to the Global ESG Blue Economy ETF. We play a key role in our foundation with a call for projects of EUR 7 million to support scientific research on marine and coastal ecosystems, which will come as a supplement to the EUR 9 million, which already have been allocated to 13 research projects dedicated to marine biodiversity. As you can see, we can engage a number of drivers to contribute to protecting the marine and coastal ecosystems, making us a recognized player in this respect. Now, supporting our employees has been at the core of our strategic plan as well.
What we have done in 2024 is that we reached the ambitious goal of a gender balance of 39% in the senior management population in line with our goal of 40% in late 2025. This gender balance target was exceeded as there are more than 50% of women across all talented managers in the group. Now, let us emphasize the fact that we've expanded the number of employees in grassroots organization by exceeding the targets of the number of volunteer and pro bono hours, knowing that the group has supported employees who need it thanks to listening and psychological support hotlines. We've trained and developed employees, especially with respect to sustainability, sustainable finance, and the Sustainability Academy, contributed to training 130,000 employees ever since it was created in late 2022, more than 75,000 of those in 2024. We distributed lots of training sessions in new technology and AI.
All these have contributed to maintaining a very high level of engagement with our employees on the order of 85%. In late 2024, we signed a new global agreement with the Uni Global Union, which makes it possible for the group to strengthen the set of employee benefits, decent compensation, health and safety at work, parental allowances, and the fight against marital violence. Now, in 2024, with 75% of its sponsorship activities focusing on solidarity and mutual support initiatives, the group demonstrated that it was capable of taking action against crisis, but also of taking action over the long term to contribute to solving social and societal issues like food precariousness, supporting migrants, and supporting disenfranchised areas. Since 2018, our sponsorship activity budgets increased by 50%, with close to EUR 1 billion being engaged and channeled.
This also involves the engagement of employees with their donations through the emergency relief funds, which was activated twice in 2024 in the Bayot Islands and in the Spanish flooding, and also by providing pro bono skills and volunteers. In 2024, the foundation celebrated its 40th anniversary, and a new foundation was created in the Nordics, which means that there are 12 such BNP Paribas Foundations which have provided sustainable funding to projects in favor of solidarity, culture, and the environment. Our sponsorship activity is quite dynamic, tuned into the current times. In 2024, we started an innovation lab to test and experiment new ways of supporting initiatives and new programs to contribute to social cohesion. 2024 was, as you could see, a very rich and buoyant year across all fronts.
Thank you for attention. Mr. Lemierre, our Chairman, will tell us about some governance aspects for our banking group. Thank you.
All right. It is now up to me to review the aspects connected with governance in three parts: the Board of Directors, its makeup, its membership, age limits of directors, and compensation of directors. I will start with the membership or makeup of the Board of Directors. I will start with first, thank you to board members who are leaving us after serving actively for many years and very intensely to our board. Michel Tilmant, who was a member of our board for a bit more than 15 years. Michel, you were a non-voting member for a little while as well. Michel played a very key role on the board with his wisdom and experience, contributing a lot.
Marion Guillou, who was a board member for 12 years and who contributed her knowledge, her experience, her acumen about CSR issues of business management. Michel and Marion, on behalf of and in the name of the shareholders, I would like to warmly thank you for the key role you played at all levels on our board. Thank you for that. Now, there are two reappointments and four proposals to appoint new board members in the face of these two members leaving us. Two reappointments. We suggest that Jean-Laurent Bonnafé be reappointed as the Chief Executive Officer, whom you know well, right? I do not know whether I can say this in his presence, but he has been a robust and talented CEO, right? I will not go any further. He has been an outstanding CEO for our group.
Thank you, Jean-Laurent, for continuing on your role and for accepting a new term as a board member, which is being served to you by the shareholders in meeting. Lieve Logghe in color red. Lieve is here. She is a Belgian citizen. She's a CFO of Boortmalt International. She's a member of our board and a member of board committees, playing a key role on our board as well. We wish that Lieve Logghe be reappointed by the shareholders in meeting. Now, we have four proposals for new board members to be admitted to our board. Four new members against two members leaving. This is where the math doesn't add up. We suggest that on a temporary basis, the board members go from 14 to 16 members. I will tell you why. There are great personalities, very high-caliber people ready to join our board.
It seemed to us, it seemed to the board members who discussed this point, that it would be timely and wise to have them come on board, that they would contribute much to our board, and that by way of anticipation for upcoming changes, we should go from 14 to 16 members, with the goal being rather to be 14 over the longer term. Given the high-caliber and high-quality personalities about to join us, it seemed relevant that we went to 16 members. First, Bertrand de Mazières, who is here, who is the former CFO of the European Investment Bank. You know, this is a very large European bank based in Luxembourg, which is the bank serving the European Union. Bertrand de Mazières has a wide-ranging expertise in the financial services, banking services, very recognizant with international cooperation, will contribute a lot to our board.
Madame Valérie Chort, sitting next to Bertrand de Mazières, is a Canadian national. She has had a diversified career with very clear skills and expertise in the banking world. Madame Chort acquired lots of skills and expertise at the Royal Bank of Canada with very sound and robust Canadian and North American expertise. You built up very strong expertise with CSR and sustainability in banking and as a private consultant. We are delighted that you contribute your skills, your knowledge, and your North American exposure to us, which is very important for BNP Paribas. We have Mr. Nicolas Peter, who is sitting next to Valérie Chort. Nicolas is both a French and a German national.
I believe I can say, with secrecy of this meeting, without unveiling too much, the name of Nicolas Peter will be suggested to be appointed as the Chairman of the Board of BMW. This will be tomorrow. Mr. Peter occupied many roles in BMW, who has been an industrialist and a financier. He'll give us the knowledge of Germany, of global markets as perceived by a large OEM like BMW of this very important automotive industry at BNP Paribas. We always saw to it that we had large industrialists on our board because they are our clients, because they have a different understanding of the world. We are finance people. They are industrial people. With this intersecting of views in the discussions, there are very useful contributions and insights for the board. Thank you, Nicolas Peter, for accepting to join the board.
If the shareholders see this fit, then we have Guillaume Poupard. Guillaume Poupard is currently Deputy CEO of Docaposte, which is part of the La Poste Group. You probably know him better. I knew him better as a former CEO of ANSSI, who is the French agency and French authority of IT systems. He chaired this agency, this authority from 2014 to 2022. He is one of the best French specialists in the field of cybersecurity, of new technology, of those modern systems, quote unquote, that Jean-Laurent Bonnafé mentioned, which play a growing key role in our businesses. Your expertise, sir, is quite unique, if I may emphasize this point, as well as your outstanding knowledge of the business world, because they were your clients for many years. You are cognizant with the relations with new technology companies, with its providers, basically all the AI ecosystem.
You have a remarkable expertise on risk control, which is always very important in the banking world. I'm delighted that Guillaume Poupard accepted to join our board if the shareholders so decide. These are the two reappointments and the four names which are submitted to your vote for appointment. According to me, these are very high-quality names, and they will contribute a lot now. You know, a board of directors will be 16 members instead of 14. Fourteen directors elected by you and two directors as elected by the employees of the bank. I would like to greet them. They are here sitting with the other board members. Our board will have five nationalities with 11 independent directors in compliance with all diversity criteria.
You saw this briefly with all criteria of skills and competency with the collective group of the new and existing members with outstanding and remarkable bases of skills, knowledge, and competency. If you vote in favor of these new and reappointed directors, you will have the makeup of this board as it showed up on the screen with the four board committees, with some members sitting on different board committees, knowing that committee work in a bank like BNP Paribas is heavy-duty work and very insightful and useful work. So much for the makeup of our board. Now, the second part of my talk is about the age limit of the Chairman, the CEO, and the Deputy CEOs.
One of the key roles of the board of directors, especially that of the CSR and governance committee, which is chaired by Mr. Aschenbroich, is to pave the way for the succession planning. He's been very active with respect to the succession to the board and will just float the proposals a few minutes ago. Of course, succession planning is of key importance for the corporate officers and for the senior management, the senior leadership team. So this is very precise work, very in-depth work, partly confidential work due to its very nature, because basically you work, you monitor people through their careers. It is of key critical importance for a board of directors, knowing that it has to be extremely discreet and confidential work, your board, and including the committee dedicated to governance spends a lot of time on that.
In this process came the issue of the age limit of the Chairman and the CEO, and the governance committee and the board in their discussions considered that it would be desirable that Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, who is a young man, isn't he, with lots of drive, lots of energy. You heard him. You heard this, that he could have the long-term visibility of an additional term after the one which I hope you will be voting for him, which suggests that the age limit be extended by another three years, which is the statutory limit for the exercise of the CEO, with the age limit set to 68 years of age. I believe that you understand that this is a very important decision for the group. Thank you, Jean-Laurent, for having presented this decision and discussed it in a very open way.
Thank you for having taken the responsibility for this decision. I think that the group requires this type of prospect. Concerning the COO, I think the limit should also be increased in the framework of the succession project to which the board is thinking about. Moreover, I am not maybe the best to talk about it, the best one to talk about it, but the board has asked me whether I would accept to have an additional term of reference in order to guarantee the stability of the group governance in the future. I have accepted this proposition. In order to do that, the statutory age limit has to be increased. This is a significant, important major decision in the life of a group. The successions are prepared. They are well managed by the CEO and the board and the CGEM.
We hope that those decisions will make it possible to continue with the same good governance, and we do hope that your group in that way will be better managed in a very efficient way during the next few years. Concerning the resolutions concerning the compensations, first of all, the tokens or the compensation envelope that has been set at EUR 1,850,000. The number of directors is going to be increased from 14 to 16. The overall compensation envelope should be increased as well in order to give the right compensation to the directors, so EUR 2 million in the future. Concerning the compensation for corporate officers, you know that you have to understand that nothing has been changed in the way the variable compensation is going to be set. All the criteria have remained the same. The objectives have remained the same ones.
Concerning the CEO, we have a reminder of the various criteria. The last column here on your slide, you have the achievement rate. The information that is given here does not concern the organization, which has remained unchanged. It is about the achievements in 2024. You can see that, as it has been said earlier, the achievement is quite good. All the management criteria have been achieved or even exceeded. There is an overperformance compensation, but it has a ceiling at 120% of the fixed compensation. You can see how good the bank results have been. Concerning these two COOs, you have the same information. The criteria have been adapted to their portfolio, but you can see that there has been an overperformance, additional performance, and very good results that have an impact on the variable compensation. This table is quite important. Page 35.
What is important is the overperformance ratio above 100% due to the good results achieved by the bank. This system is quite conservative, quite precautionary, and this gives a variable compensation, which is slightly higher. Here you have the items of long-term compensation in 2024. Let me recall that the two main criteria for PR&T long-term compensation are the intrinsic performance of the bank and the compared performance with the Eurostock index banks. Those are very stringent criteria in order to align the long-term compensation of the directors with the shareholders' interests and also based on a comparison with the other banks. Now, the bank results have been very good, but in comparison, the allocations have been quite tight, some positive, some more negative. Let me recall that in 2025, as beforehand, as in the past, all the penalty provisions and the clawback provisions have been applied.
Now, to be clear, this is a global presentation with the various compensations. My compensation has remained the same since 2014, and also the executive corporate officers, comparison between 2024 and 2023, slight improvement of compensation in 2024. I would like to highlight an important item here on this table. Yann Gérardin and Thierry Laborde have positive compensation. Since last year, we have decided to increase their fixed compensation, which of course has an impact and leads to improvement in 2024, which is not the case of Jean-Laurent Bonnafé. I am going to come back to that later. You have the compensation multiples. I am going to say the same as last year. We have low ratios, if I may say so. Multiples are quite low. Now, slightly improved. I do not know whether it is good or bad, but they have improved. They have been tightened.
It's an interesting piece of information in order to compare the level of compensation between the various banks and institutions. I would like to talk about Jean-Laurent Bonnafé's compensation, that we want to review as we do every three years when the terms of reference is renewed. Now, when you look at the compensation of a bank CEO, we have a regulatory architecture imposed by the ECB. What is very important is the fixed compensation, and the remaining compensation depends on the fixed compensation. This is the important item. In a nutshell, we can say that BNP Paribas has good results. You've heard about that earlier. Very good financial results. Jean-Laurent also talked about the very good strategy and preparation for the future. Those are very important topics. Obviously, BNP Paribas has a very solid pathway.
If I look at Jean-Laurent's compensation, the fixed compensation is one of the lower. If you compare it with the other European bank CEOs, you can see that in the preparatory documents. If you take into account the main European banks and sample of the international banks in Europe, you can see that Jean-Laurent's compensation is much lower than the other CEOs, below 47% compared to the average. It ranks ninth amongst the 11 major banks in Europe, whereas BNP Paribas has very strong results. The board of directors have talked about that for a long time, and we thought that the difference in compensation was too large. We thought about increasing Jean-Laurent's compensation to put it above the average, but that would be too strong, an increase. We decided that we still wanted to correct that imbalance.
When we reviewed the three-year review of this compensation, of Jean-Laurent's compensation, we decided to propose something which would be a significant increase. We have decided also to take into account the rate of inflation during the last three years. The compensation has been set three years ago. Also, we looked at the average compensations in the banking industry. We really discussed that at length at the board of directors, and we have decided to increase the fixed part of the CEO's compensation by 25%. In this period, we can see that the increase of prices is near 10%. There is a catch-up effort that we have to make. We have to be a duty of loyalty towards our CEO, especially since everything is going smoothly in our bank. 25% seems to us an unavoidable, indispensable increase in compensation.
We want to submit this decision. The compensation would reach EUR 2.3 million from EUR 1,243,000. This is our decision that we would like to submit to you. We have published a report about the benchmark in order for everything to be transparent about this decision and in order for you to be able to appreciate the situation in the right way. I'm going to give the floor now to the auditor's representative, Mr. Damien Leurent. Can you come on the stage? Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of the auditors, I would like to present the conclusions of our various reports for the 2024 financial year. Consolidated accounts of the group have been closed by your Board of Directors on the 3rd of February, 2025. We implement our due diligence all throughout the year.
We review the quarterly situations accounts and annual accounts. Our work concerns all the significant entities of the group, the bank, the subsidiaries in France and abroad. The objective of our work is to have sufficient guarantee on the accounts that have to be sincere and accurate and without any significant anomalies. Our report, since the 2017 regulation, our report is a description of the risks, possible risks, which are the most important according to our professional judgment. Concerning the consolidated accounts of the group, the key items, there are four key items: the assessment of the credit risk and the customer's portfolio, the financial risks, the IT general controls, the assessment of the liabilities in the various branches, insurance contracts, savings, and retirements. Our report describes the risks that have been identified and the responses brought by our auditors.
The conclusions are presented in a report for the account committee. After the review that we have made this year, we have given an unreserved opinion concerning the consolidated accounts of your group. Concerning the transposition in the French law of the European regulation, the auditors have decided that the sustainability efforts are according to the regulation. Concerning the sustainability report, according to the regulation, we have established a limited insurance report. All our conclusions are without any reserves concerning the compliance with the regulations. We have made three observations concerning the double materiality process, which are annually reviewed and could be changed over time. An observation on the financial assets excluded from the scope of calculation for greenhouse emission gases, and an observation concerning the main methodological choices which have been adopted by the group in order to review the alignment for households' loans.
Finally, concerning other reports that we have published, concerning the company's account, our report is without any reserves, and there are no new regulated or third-party agreements this year. There is a continuation of the non-competition agreement between Jean-Laurent Bonnafé and BNP Paribas, adopted on the 26th of May, 2016. We also have had specific reports concerning the 23rd resolution and the 24th resolution concerning the employee saving plans and the resolution number 25 concerning the capital reduction by cancellation of shares. I would like to thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Mr. Leurent. Thank you, Mr. Leurent, for the presentation of the auditor's report. The presentations have been completed, and I would like to propose to switch to the discussions with you.
I have received some written questions, particularly from two shareholders of Forum for Sustainable Investment, a question concerning ESG, artificial intelligence, and human resources, and a question from Reclaim Finance concerning environmental issues. The answers have been published yesterday on the bank website. They are available for everybody. I do hope that the answers are going to be satisfactory. Now, let's move over to the questions part. I have received written questions as well that have been put in the beginning of this meeting. I am going, first of all, to hear the questions that are going to be put orally in this room, and then I'm going to try and answer the written questions. Let's start. Three, number three. I don't know who you are. Could you introduce yourself, please?
Can you hear me? Alexandre, I am working for the NGO Oxfam France. Thank you for your welcoming words. Very happy to be here. A charge has been brought against Les Amis de la Terre, and BNP has made since an announcement concerning fossil energies in 2024 during the General Assembly last year. You have said that you would abstain to participate in the conventional emissions of the gas and oil producers. This abstention, does that mean that in the future you are going to abstain from financing and supporting gas and oil and fossil energy? Now, this support is a judicial action, and we would like to repeat our question. Are you going to abstain in the future to support and finance fossil energies?
Now, for the right organization of our discussion, the quality of our exchanges, I would like to ask to the various shareholders to ask their question in a very specific way and to be short.
Now, you refuse to implement that measure against fossil energy, if I have understood you correctly. I would like to ask my questions. First of all, are you going to update your oil and gas policy and commit yourself to stop all your support to oil and gas and fossil energy producers? Are you going also to decide that you are going to stop all your corporate investment in favor of the oil and gas developers or promoters?
Now, please, please be short. Put short questions in order to make it possible for all the shareholders to put questions if they want to. Laurence?
Thank you for your question, sir. As you have said, we do not structure general purpose bond issues for oil and gas operators, and our asset management subsidiaries do not invest into such bond issues. This is not part of a policy because not everything is being regulated via policies in any bank.
With respect to your second question on general purpose financing activities, we do a minimum amount of them in 2024. There were 152 syndicated loans for oil and gas organizations, and we participated in only five of those transactions with very restrictive criteria, especially on the analysis of the share of the business operations in exploration and production, their energy transition policies, and their low or decarbonization trajectory. Our market share is 0.47% in these general purpose financing, knowing that we are the ninth ranking, the ninth largest bank. We are an extremely minority bank in these fundings.
Thank you, Laurence. Number two.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear board members, hello. My name is Jake, and my question is on the recent interactions between BNP Paribas and an organization of fossil fuel, BFA, chair actions, weekend finance. All these organizations wrote to BNP Paribas asking for your bank to set an objective for power grid financing and storage transactions. We have had no reaction from your bank on this aspect and the fact that power grids and storage facilities are key ingredients for transitioning. In fact, the generation of solar and wind power is more and more affected by restrictions to the European power grid, very often due to lack of flexibility. BNP Paribas has stated that power grids and storage facilities are part of their strategy, but we do regret that you do not factor in these goals in your policies and strategies.
We are happy that BNP Paribas participated in a loan of EUR 7.8 billion in TNET, which is an application which grouped together all low carbon investments in 2023.
Can you ask your question, sir? We got the general line of your question. What is your question, sir?
My question is as follows. Will BNP Paribas show the leadership and will set an ambitious level of investment for sustainable storage facilities and power grid by building on the LZE scenarios of the International Atom Energy?
Our answer is no. We have not set any specific target and goal on this market segment, which is of capital importance, as you said, but which are difficult to quantify. These are diffused and scattered out financing, which are very often on board other projects. When you fund renewables, you have a part which is dedicated to the hooking up to the power grid and to the power grid. There is a EUR 9 billion debt project, 40% of which being specifically dedicated to the transmission part, knowing that the point of generation and the point of distribution are 800 km apart. This was an onshore U.S. project I just mentioned. This is part of the goal of EUR 40 billion of low carbon financing by 2030.
It can also be directly financed via large power grid operators the likes of Elia, TNET, and you'll find those financing in our goal of supporting our clients in the amount of EUR 200 billion. We did a partial estimate, which is of course conservative, and we already see that we have EUR 10 billion of funding out of the EUR 179 billion we mentioned channeled to this market segment. Also, part of the funding we provide to the large diversified energy players, but we are finding it very difficult to quantify. Number one, it is difficult to have robust and reliable quantification. On the battery industry, this industry is a fast-moving industry.
The battery industry, we have lots of projects which are carried out by specialist battery players or independent players. We are just at the beginning of regulations. The penetration ratios are very different according to countries, and the financial and contractual framework does not give us sufficient assurance to make projections into the future and to set targets. For these two reasons, we cannot establish a target despite the fact that there are significant financing. Knowing that it is part of the low carbon transition group mandate we created in 2021, and our bankers are very active in this market segment. Thank you.
In line with the questions which you have just asked in writing, I have a question, which is about the strategic priority to support sustainable growth, which is what Jean-Laurent has explained, and another aspect of profitability relationship with large clients. Basically, do we make money by doing that? Do we lose money? What are the relations we maintain with large clients? Do we gain or lose business?
You will hear the very clear positions by Jean-Laurent.
Like any other complicated subjects, the equation is quite simple. The world is currently changing, right? We need to organize the transitioning. Transitioning in such field is a process which takes time, which needs to get prepared, possibly in spirit of good understanding and good faith with the public powers and governments agreeing on shared rules. This can be compared with IT systems. Migrating new systems is complex and complicated, but the most difficult part is to identify the starting point. Very often, the starting point of different parties are very different. This is true as well in the field of energy. The transitioning of economies and industries are all very different. There is not one and a single way. It is very important that you understand that. Also, these trajectories need to be supported by efficient and effective technology solutions.
It is impossible for an obvious reason to organize transitioning, which would lead to a price of energy which would be out of reach for the greater number. It's just a no-go. It's fortunate that we have lots of scientists, academics, and technologists and great people who have come up with new solutions. Just look at the battery industries, what the industry was 20 years ago, and look at what the batteries are becoming to be today and going forward. All this is happening very slowly. Possibly, we are lagging behind, but we shouldn't confuse being speedy with being reckless. We need to walk slowly and steadily. Now, when you focus your attention and your efforts on new technology solutions to provide and support such change with the assessment and the balance sheet we have, which is quite robust, but yet is limited.
The balance sheet of a bank remains limited. Slowly, gradually, we deviate from our usual sources of business, and we have a shortfall in revenue. We are shifting from a balance sheet with lots of fossil fuel to a balance sheet with less fossil fuel related projects. Of course, there's a shortfall in revenue. This is at tea time. It's right now, and it's in the amount of some hundred thousands of euros. Possibly, in the aggregate, it will add up to EUR 1 billion, which will have been removed from the balance sheet of the bank, but it is being replaced by slowly built-up expertise and know-how across sources of technology: wind power, solar power, but also nuclear power with these technology solutions, which are better controlled for future deliveries.
These projects all and each have to be profitable because it is the total number of the energy sources which will have to be renewable in the near future. It would be silly to build up a world where the projects we operate are all subsidized by the public powers or are suboptimal or are underprofitable. The same goes with our financing criteria. The projects we finance, either directly or indirectly via bond issues, should come with a margin for the investors or for the financiers. You can't have any other way. What's happening, basically? What's happening is that what's happening for a car maker or an OEM, they used to make cars with a combustion engine.
There are fewer and fewer combustion engines, which comes with a cost because you renounce established expertise, and you need to write off this old technology, and you shift and switch to new technology, which is costly because you have to develop, you have to research, develop, you have to invest, and you have to implement. It is a shift. If you take the P&L statement in a simple manner, the P&L statement, which is everything you fund connected with energy and mobility, how things go. What happened was this was very simple, straightforward profitability, very proven, very well established. In the future, it will be the same. In between the two posts, you have to learn. There is a learning curve. We do this slowly and gradually. We have well-established policy. We have roadmaps and trajectories to structure and organize this transitioning, which are well determined.
You know the proportion of our balance sheet, which is dedicated to renewables, 75% of balance sheet up from some 10%. We are now over 70% of our bank's balance sheet dedicated to renewables. This is something we can do because project owners do have great projects. We do not own the projects. We support projects which are developed, designed, developed, and implemented by project owners. We try and understand and analyze these projects. In order to do that, you need to have intelligent people. This is why we developed our platform. We recruited dozens and even hundreds of scientists and engineers who are able to orchestrate and coordinate projects because there is no question that the bank onboards projects onto its balance sheet, projects which would be unsustainable and irrelevant projects. This is a moment of switching.
In the past, things were linear, quite straightforward, with well-established, clear margins, with associated risk, which was low, and the level of understanding of the entire ecosystem was well-known and well-defined. In the future, it will be the same, except that it will take some time. It will be 15 or 20 years from now. In between, there's a learning curve. You need to learn. You need to accept that you will be failing. You need to be very open in direct interaction with project owners. You need to support all types of new initiatives, which includes nuclear power, which has been poorly treated and perceived in Europe. People have not fully understood the value of nuclear power, which is a local level source of energy.
It will probably be one of the lessons drawn from the Spanish outage that the generation of power should be at the closest level of utilization. I'm an engineer by background. This is very simple. The electron transits swiftly and quickly by way of microseconds, but it's not so quick. It's not so fast. We will be investing. It will come with a cost at the beginning. It comes with passion as well. This is what you do to attract talent. You need to attract new talent. It's a great opportunity to attract new talent across these new fields and these issues. All those criticizing us or suggesting improvements should come on board. We are very happy to take up any positive suggestions and solutions. In any case, a company must be robust. We are a bank. We need to have a robust balance sheet.
Profitability should be the call of the day. We shouldn't be making any trade-offs of sacrificing profitability in favor of innovation and acceleration. It could be possible if it were incidental, but we are now talking about replacing 100% of our core business of the past into new patterns. The same goes with planes, aircraft, and cars. The future projects have to be self-funded. This is part of the complication and complexity. We need to come up with a new world where the next generation technology and the new ways of doing things should be profitable per se. It is possible and should possibly be even more profitable than in the previous world. It is possible with respect to the impact on the environment that it be simpler, that there are less problems with decommissioning and cleaning and recovering and reclaiming the environment.
This will be a journey of some 20-30 years. We are among the most advanced compared with our starting point, which was an energy and raw material bank in the conventional sense of the terms. There is some degree of philosophy. Sorry for being a bit lengthy, but we are not operating alone here.
I told you that he would give you a very detailed answer, and he did.
I have a question. Are you really interested in your shareholders? When we come here, we can't take our computer. In the annual report, there are 945 pages. Why couldn't we bring our computers in this room? Are they really dangerous for the General Assembly? Moreover, I'm not very happy about the increase in the age limit of the various members of the board. This increase is either 68 or less or more. It's not really clear. You're talking a lot about stability, but if you want stability in a company, the age limit is set right from the start and shouldn't be changed. I think that it is good to have young talents coming into the board of directors.
Concerning the compensation increases, EUR 1.8 million-EUR 2.3 million, but you're only talking about fixed compensations. I imagine that if we look at our tax return, we will look at the whole compensation that we received over the year. I think that the board of directors should talk about the whole compensation, not only the fixed compensation. I would also like to talk about Hello bank! You have an increase in the number of customers of 16%. Boursorama is twice your size, as in increased the number of customers more than you have. Do you think you can catch up, or Hello bank! can catch up with Boursorama? I would like you to give the answers to all of my questions.
Now, very briefly, concerning the computers, it is a matter of security for everybody. Everybody is on the same footing. Some objects are forbidden because of security reasons. I have given you the answer. You do not agree with my answer, but this is the answer I am going to give you. It is for collective security purposes, and I do not see whether we could be against that. I have chaired other General Assemblies in other circumstances, and let's stay polite. I am going to talk about that with Mr. Poupard anyway. Concerning the age limit, yes, your comments are quite relevant, and there have been a lot of discussions at the board of directors.
The board of directors has taken those decisions, and it's not incompatible with your comments. One thing is to guarantee stability, and another thing is to prepare for the future. To think about the future directors. It is an important topic. It's all about talents, new talents, and reappointments. I think we should increase visibility, and it's not a bad thing. The duty of a board of directors is to see to it that there is a right balance between the different objectives. Your concerns are taken into consideration, and our decisions are quite compatible with your concerns. We want to have a dynamic management for the company. Concerning the compensation, a lot of information about those compensations has been published on the website of the bank. You have all of them, not only fixed compensation.
I did not want to talk about variable compensations because I wanted to be brief, but all this is quite well known and has been made available to all of you, and also the consultant firms. You know everything about the fixed compensation and the variable compensations. Let me remind you of the fact that there is a European regulation concerning the directors' compensation. Anyway, it's all about multiples, and the ceiling is well known. I would like to take advantage of your question to answer a written question that has been asked. The advice of the firms, consultancy firms, and they have given a positive advice concerning the resolutions about the age limit. Now, Hello bank!, this is a very relevant question. Hello bank! has the same IT system as the commercial bank in France.
Hello bank! cannot be comparable to Boursorama, which is separate from the Société Générale Commercial Bank. This is going to give rise to a presentation in the framework of the strategic plan of the bank, which is going to be presented at the end of June. I think that we will give you the answers to your questions, but I do not want to give the answer before June. Thank you. Maybe three again.
Can you hear me?
Yes, very well.
Now, I would like to put a question on behalf of Reclaim Finance. The power supply is a very important area in order to decrease our carbon emissions. If we want to multiply by three the renewable energy, this is a very good project in order to significantly reduce the greenhouse gases. Dependency on renewable energy has to be increased in order to replace fossil energy and not to add to the consumption of fossil energy, but BNP has made no commitments in order to reduce the consumption of fossil energies. We expect such commitments from BNP Paribas in order to put an end to your support of new gas power plants in Europe, whereas it has been demonstrated that we do not need those new gas plants.
We know that BNP continues to financially support the creation of those new power plants, particularly for Enel, which has decided to develop 2,000 new megawatt power plants, and other companies which want to set up new gas power plants, particularly in the Netherlands. This is incompatible with what we have committed to in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. My question is very simple. Yes, I know I'm a bit long, but other people have been just as long as I am. My question then, are you going to align your practices with your own climatic goals? Are you going to commit yourself to end all your support to new gas power plants?
No, as I've said before, a transition can take some time. What is important is to compare to what is existing right now. Are we improving our situation? Of course, a transition means that it's not going to be perfect right away. In Europe, that's the way it is. Whether it pleases you or not, obviously, gas is still going in the future to play an important part. Gas will replace coal or other less acceptable energies. This is a transition pathway we are on. Of course, this is not the end point. This is a medium-term point. Our practices, our operating modes with our customers, all this is compatible with our commitments. It does not mean that by 2030 we will complete this transition, we will end this transition, we will go beyond 2030.
I am not telling you that the situation is perfect. I am telling you that in order to complete that transition, we have to go through a certain number of milestones in order to continue with the improvement that we are targeting. This transition is going to become more and more complicated, and this is a matter of regions. It all depends on the local solutions which can be offered to the various stakeholders in different regions. The right way, the right solution in one location is not necessarily the right way in another location, in another geographical location. I'm just like you, I'm looking forward to the end of this transition. It's very important to fund, to finance all the right solutions. This transition is not that easy. It's not perfect. This is what I can tell you right now.
If you look at what we are doing right now and what we have done since the start of this transition, and if you look at our commitments, - 10% fossil energies at the end of 2030, how many banks will have done the same? Not that many. Moreover, we have to take into consideration our bond issues. There are those two dimensions which make it possible to continue with this virtuous transition. One last time, I would like to repeat, this is a very long-term transition. We can't do it overnight. If we do it overnight, it will be over-hasty. In Europe, we still have too many over-hasty behaviors and approaches on this type of topics. I do not want to dwell on that, but we have to act rapidly, but we should not be over-hasty. Thank you. Let me take a question. Number four, please.
Hello. Good morning. [Alain Pellistin], talking on behalf of the Association of Individual Shareholders. I have two short comments and one question. First of all, I would like to welcome the fact that you propose a down payment on dividends at the end of September. We had asked that last year. You have listened to our request. Thank you. Second comment, I think you want to increase the age limit, and you are too timid because Arnaud has said that he would like to increase the age limit to 85 years of age. In view of the quality of the management, I'm not bothered by the fact that you want to increase the age limit.
Another comment. We have seen a platform that has been started at the end of last year. Very well. It started very well. On the whole, it works well. I know that there are further developments for the second half of the year. Have you reviewed your objectives and your synergies for this platform? That was my first question. Second question, you have mentioned the transformation of relational or relationship-based model. I think there is a plan for that. Could you come back to that? Also, what is the scheme for the employees? Last year, a lot of things happened in Spain, and you explained that it was not possible to be active in a country when you did not have a footprint in this country. You do have a footprint in this country this year. I think that you have remained very silent concerning this country.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your first comments. We will not respond to that, of course. Thank you for that. Very clear. Are you answering about Uptevia? No, no change with Uptevia . Uptevia, as you know, is the teaming up of the Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas platforms with the merging of these two platforms to improve them, to upgrade their operations. These platforms are complicated ones because you might believe it's a question of serving large corporates, but in fact, we have used it to serve individual retail clients. This is about serving both large corporates and individual clients. The technological solutions are complicated, all the more so that the various parties are expecting the most late cut-off dates and optimalities.
The project will give us not more efficiencies, it will give us more capabilities. It is a project which is well underway, even though this project is starting off under difficult circumstances because the two platforms were underinvested historically and the two platforms were lagging behind despite the fact they were what was the best in the market, yet possibly our two groups didn't invest sufficiently into these two platforms. We are pulling forces with Crédit Agricole and all synergistic capital is reemployed to improve and upgrade capabilities. There is lots to be done. The purpose is not to turn it into a hyper-competitive and hyper-profitable platform. The goal is to make it a high-quality platform which meets the needs and expectations of very diversified client segments, you know, the large corporates and the retail clients.
Now, BCF, Commercial Bank in France. We are not the ones to decide about the number of branches. You know, the customer base changes and the way they have been utilizing banking services has changed. That is the reality of life. We have all become more agile with online services and applications, digital technology in the broader sense of the term. We have been using less the physical locations, the brick-and-mortar branches in their interactions with the banking operators. There is less of a need for brick-and-mortar branches. When you are a services company and when one of your channels is of low demand, you have to adjust it downward, but you have to do it slowly and gradually because this, again, is a transition. This transitioning is different in a highly densely populated area compared with a less densely populated area.
The same as my answer to the previous question, there will be a presentation of the strategy of the commercial banking in France, which will address this question and which will tell you how we are going to go about. Basically, it is the way our customers and clients will be utilizing our services, which will configure the framework of branches. We saw that during the pandemic. The pandemic accelerated lots of factors and patterns.
We need to support this trajectory to dedicate more means and resources to the most in-demand channels. Now, with respect to our employees, this plan will be done without any redundancy plan. We are not going to introduce any voluntary departure plans. We'll be using the natural turnover of the workforce of the bank and we'll be able to recruit the right people as we go. It's quite a smooth and fluid process, which will make it possible to have employees find a well-balanced model with branches still existing, with every employee being redeployed depending on their skills and profiles. It won't be easy. It will require a lot of local management skills and support, but it has to be done.
We have to go through that with the right pace, with the right efficiencies to allocate the means and resources where our customers and clients require it and adjusting the means and resources downward when the demand is low and making sure that our employees get redeployed and reskilled and upskilled so that they can serve and support our clients over the longer term. Yes, in the retail banking network, in the Caisse d'Épargne or Banque Populaire type of network, what is highly recommended to successfully carry out a merger is when you merge in one and the same country. When you cross borders and you merge across two different countries, and if you have two different IT systems coexist, you are finding it difficult in retail banking, in the local retail banking, you are finding it difficult to identify synergy in cross-border developments.
Now, historically, and I will be talking about Italy, I won't mention the other situations. I don't want to speak about our competitors, but we at BNP Paribas bought some 20 years ago. Twenty years ago will be next year. We bought the National Bank BNL, which was a bank which was half a savings bank, Napolitan bank, rather southern Italy bank, and a small SME bank, very much like Banque Populaire in France. We acquired the bank, which was slightly at odds with our core strategic model, but we couldn't prevent advancing this bank towards more mid-cap private banking and affluent segment banking services. This is what we've done in order to achieve synergy with CIB, in order to achieve synergy with the asset management operations. Basically, this is what we've done.
We did not get much upside, and we do not want to invest resources into turning it into a Banque Populaire-like bank or Caisse d'Épargne project. Every time there is consolidation in a market like the Italian market, there are cards being reshuffled. There are clients who want to switch banks. These consolidation moves, in fact, generate more efficiencies in the banking system and make you benefit from such dynamics. We did not take part in these consolidation moves. We have been advising some parties in such moves because we have an advisory operation in Italy, and we keep going with our pace on the back of organic growth. We expanded our investment banking operations, compared with where we were 20 years ago, and the same goes in other business lines.
Commercial banking in Italy is, first and foremost, a bank which serves and supports mid-caps and private banking and affluent clients. It is a bit less than a Banque Populaire-style or a Caisse d'Épargne-style bank. Why not? It is because we are best at doing that. This is why this is what our product line looks like. In fact, I have learned Italian language, and we explain this very well to the Bank of Italy. I will go to Italy in two days' time. I will meet with the Bank of Italy governor. He will ask me the same question. I will give him the same answer. You cannot veer courses too sharply. You need to stay the course and be relevant. I can mention the many businesses, asset management, security services, insurance services, which are doing well. Cardiff did an acquisition in Italy, which did quite well.
Securities Services did partnership. Consumer loan business is doing very well. The top line in company, i.e., the total revenue of BNP Paribas is twice that of BNL. It is true that we're only communicating on the BNL revenue, but our revenue in Italy for BNP Paribas is double that of BNL. The profitability of BNP Paribas in Italy is triple that of BNL. This is how we've been developing, growing, and expanding. We are happy, and we are keeping our distance with the others, but we are serving and supporting them all because through our platform, we are serving these banking competitors of ours, who are also our clients. I'll stop here. I believe I answered the question.
I think that you have answered Mr. Panetta in advance. Number five, the back of the room.
[Philippe ] from Amis de la Terre . I would like to ask a question concerning your climate strategy. It's not only my question, but more than 2,000 citizens online have asked you this question during the past two weeks concerning the liquefied natural gas, which has an enormous, huge impact on climate. Sixty-three new projects have been initiated concerning LNG. If those projects are funded today, there will be major consequences concerning greenhouse gases. You know that the present bank decisions are commitments over the next decades. You have answered lately several times that your group has no appetite for export projects of LNG, but we can be afraid that you will have more appetite in the future.
I have two questions. First of all, are you going to put an end to the funding that has already been dedicated to LNG or existing terminal extensions around the world? Second question, are you going to put an end to your overall funding to companies developing this type of infrastructure?
We fund absolutely no projects of energy terminal because it's not in line with our approach, which consists of not supporting the exploration and production mining and production area. So we do not fund any project in the world.
Let's come back to number four.
Hello, Michel Guerrier, individual shareholder. Very direct question, national defense. Strategic issue. I would like to know whether your bank intends to support not necessarily the CAC 40 major companies like Airbus, but small and medium enterprises and young startups which have outstanding projects and which will support, bail out the commercial balance. Trade balance. Another question concerning individual shareholders. Don't you think that you should increase the number of individual shareholders with a loyalty program, just like the ELIKI Group has done?
First question, I'll give the floor to Jean-Laurent, but you have seen a communication made by the bank on this topic and public documents?
Indeed, we have made a communication about that about a month ago in order to give you a few key figures concerning our commitments in favor of the defense industry. On the whole, the bank has invested more than EUR 20 billion in the defense area or aircraft industry. Let us say EUR 12 billion-EUR 15 billion. It's an order of magnitude. Probably the first bank in this order of magnitude to finance the defense industry. We have always invested in this industry. We know the advantages and the drawbacks of this industry. No, we have major companies, mid-cap and smaller companies that we invest in, and also we invest through the insurance overall fund or through asset management projects.
In France, with BNP Paribas Development, we have invested EUR 250 million equity for SMEs or startups which have very specific ideas, which makes it possible to meet some requirements and solve problems. We have a very good position in this industry, and it is a continuous project over a long-term basis. We also deal with export credit guarantees for exports. You know that military contracts are on a long-term basis. We have a contract and maintenance and then spare parts. It is not only a sale contract, it is a maintenance contract. Some of those contracts have been started more than 20 years ago. We are not only European, but we are also international because we support all the countries which are NATO members. We help them find the necessary funds, and we also support companies which are able to propose technological resources supplements.
Now, this is a tradition. We've always had this know-how, and I think we have to talk about that a little more when this issue becomes, unfortunately, more topical. We have to be frank about that. We have to see clearly the situation, and if we should in the future have to, if Europe in the future should be faced with major problems, then we have to prepare ourselves. For a long time, we had the American umbrella and protection, but it has not disappeared. This protection has not disappeared, but for the time being, Europe has to become stronger and work in a more integrated way in order to achieve some kind of independence and sovereignty in this area. It's not so simple.
Concerning the armament industry, there are also issues pertaining to access to resources and commodities. It's just like transition into the mobility environment. It's a long transition. Moreover, we need to have the state budget, large enough state budget. All this has to be very efficacious. We can 't manufacture the same number of items at the same price as a small number of items that we used to manufacture in the past. We need to increase the number of armament systems that we manufacture, and this is very costly, very expensive. We also need to see whether the armament systems of the past are the right ones for the future. We are going to have a very different system and a very powerful system.
It is going to be very different. It is not going to be bigger, but it is going to be different and more powerful. The new entrepreneurs, the new stakeholders in this industry are very welcome, and they are sources of new ideas. I have given you a long answer, but it is a major topic. Not long ago, we could discover in some countries that the banks were banned from the military sector, the military industry. Sometimes, in some countries, we started with funding the armament industry. This is not an easy area. It is a very challenging environment, a lot of fine-tuning to do, and also the destination of weapons is to be taken into consideration. It's not necessarily stable on a long-term basis. It's a complicated issue. But it's very exciting, very, very interesting.
Now, you mentioned shareholding, individual shareholding. It's a major issue for us. I met a lot of shareholders of the bank in the various regions of France. We have another principle which has been recalled very often in the General Assembly, the principle of every shareholder on an equal footing. It's BNP Paribas' position that we've had for a long time. We want every shareholder to be on an equal footing. And the individual shareholders' interests contribute. It's very important because it contributes to the value of the share, to the share price. Back of the room.
[Philippe Schiller], individual shareholders. Good morning, everybody. We had very fine presentations, and we heard that the results are very good. I would like to thank you and congratulate you for this. Contrary to other shareholders, I think that we have a CEO which is fine and in very good physical condition. I do not see why we should replace him with a young person that would be a young graduate without any experience internationally. I think that Mr. Bonnafé deserves more than the compensation increase in order for his compensation to be more comparable to the other European compensation for bank CEOs because he was underpaid, which is absolutely absurd.
I have another question concerning the armament industry. There is a major funding problem here. We have heard recently that Europe would like to initiate a group loan for EUR 700 billion. I would like to know whether you have additional information about this European loan. I do not see how it is going to be done in practice. Do you think that BNP Paribas is going to be part of that and take profit from that?
I'm not aware of this scheme. There are two different aspects here. One aspect is how the states and governments will be able to support the necessary efforts by way of their own financial capacity. The European Union is introducing a facility to help the states pool resources, be it purchasing equipment or solutions together or pooling financial means. The other thing is how we actually distribute the financial means and resources in the way of channeling the investment. There are two different aspects. I'm not too worried with respect to the total available resources with Germany, as an example, deciding to channel its investments at a higher level.
Now, it will be a question of where you allocate the money and what you actually finance tangibly with respect to projects. When you look at the additional need of additional financial resources, if it is a question of investing three times more than what has to be done, the system needs to be much better than just a factor of multiplying the existing factor by a factor of three. You need to change the system. You need to optimize the system. There will be pooled means and resources at the European level. We'll be buying equipment. Now, it's a question of deciding what will be bought because the army and military services are very different depending on the country. What are drones today about? Why is it so costly in some regions of Europe, and why is it less costly in other regions of Europe?
These are issues connected with the values of equipment, knowing that we haven't cared for such military issues for a long time. What we have learned with the Ukrainian-Russian war is that these issues are reemerging with new questions and new issues, with de facto preconceived ideas being challenged and questions with lots of things which seem to be given will have to be discarded. I don't know what the European Union has in mind, or we will possibly be solicited, but my concern is to make sure that the investments are channeled to the right people and towards the right innovation, and that all this is done in an efficient manner because public budgets are not elastic and are not unlimited, knowing that there is so much to be done. There is the energy transition, there is the sustainability front, and there is education, and there is healthcare.
All this, of course, needs to be organized in a very sophisticated manner. I use this phrase of not confusing being speedy and being overhasty, and it works across all fronts.
Thank you very much. We still have a few more minutes for questions before we allow you to vote.
I have two questions, very short questions. The first is on the energy efficiency activities and the operating efficiencies. Now, you need not to confuse efficiency and quality. AI is being used more and more to remedy a number of problems, for example, to help cut the workforce, yet you still need to have customer-facing human beings with the clients wanting and needing to interact and speak with a real person. When you speak about operating efficiency, as you will be developing AI-based solutions, will you not end up being in a solution when you will have fewer customer-facing employees?
Will you be implementing a questionnaire to your clients, asking your clients whether they have found a satisfactory answer to their questions or not because they were not able to interact with a human being? Now, to pick up on what you said. I did not hear anything about the Gaza population. Can you expand on why you are not sponsoring any activity in the Gaza Strip?
Now, on your second question, sir, unfortunately, we have tried and helped as part of a number of processes, but we were not able to pursue for a very sad reason, is that international aid was just blocked and did not reach the Gaza Strip. It is not because we did not want to, or it is not because we did not try, or because we did not think about it. I am being very straightforward here in my answer.
As to your other question. There are lots of banks in the banking system. They are purely digital banking operators with no human being interfacing with clients. You just have applications and technical interfaces. You have banking models which will be partially converging towards these purely technical and human-less interfaces, and you will have some kind of a hybrid model. It is silly to engage human advisors to try and remedy process inefficiencies because, unfortunately, too often, for a number of reasons, instead of being smooth and fluent, our processes stop short. If they were to be end-to-end, they are not. They stop short of being end-to-end for a number of reasons, including the computers of our clients and customers, which are suboptimal and which do not have the right capacity or capability.
Talking about operating efficiency, this is what we are talking about, providing end-to-end efficient and smooth service and processes so that we cut the so-called disquality and enabling our employees to have more free time to be customer-facing, knowing that time which is freed up is very precious time to do different things. Nothing is new in what I'm saying. It reemerges when the new technology comes in and consumption patterns change. All this will be re-specified as we come up with our strategic plan for commercial banking in France. It is very difficult to keep talent to provide a true advisory service and not to remedy suboptimal processes.
This is a challenge for our banking operations to be capable of digesting the gist of things and to deliver it in a fluid and smooth manner as part of a relationship which is a human relationship, knowing that we are talking about financial and banking products. Your question is very legitimate, and your question is part of our successive strategic plan. Remember that there are more and more banking operators which are purely digital players. There is a growing share of individual and retail clients who ask and request and even require only purely digital and technical interfaces. If you put customer-facing human beings, this is not what they want.
The banking system is a services system, and there will be more discontinuity of retail banking with the affluent banking and private banking will be more segmented and catering for more bespoke, more customized services. Coming back to AI, which so far has not destroyed any job, it helps people to work better, to understand better, and to be more specific and more fine-tuned in the way they engage with clients and customers. Artificial intelligence is a way to provide solutions and bring information which is more bespoke and customized because the machine, quote unquote, when you use the right data, when you have the right databases, identifies profiles more precisely and provides more personalized answers to the clients and the customers in front of you. All this is changing very quickly, but at the end of the day, we'll keep human advisors.
We need human advisors, and a number of our clients are asking for human advisors and relationship managers to stay. We need to accept that there are many clients and customers who just want technical apps because they are not available during the day. They are agile enough so that they are happy with this kind of universe, and they'd rather speak with a technical app rather than a human being. You want to make sure that the technical app is agile enough. It is never sufficiently agile, and it is another problem. I suggest, given time is pressing, I know there is a time when you lose shareholders, right, after which you lose them. I am very aware of this. I suggest we take a very last question. I apologize for the other questions that could not be asked. Do ask your question in writing. We will answer them.
I'll take question number two, which is in front of me.
Good morning, everybody. My question is going to be very short, very technical as well. I like to attend general assemblies, but it's going to be more and more difficult because I use paper, the paper procedure, because with the digital procedure, there is a problem with the voting access. It's very difficult to have the digital documents recognized and accepted. I have noticed that the paper procedure is less secure. I have observed that there are two mistakes this year. I have a mandate for a shareholder that I don't even know, so there is an effort to be made on due diligence. I know that the digital procedure is going to be widespread in the future. We won't have a choice anymore.
What I would like to have is as simple a procedure as possible. It is much more simple for the bearers, shareholders, because he has a link which is directly on his portfolio. Concerning the managed nominative shareholder, could it not be possible to have a direct link with the shareholders' portfolio?
We do pay custody for custody, so I think that it would be nice to have a direct link with a banker that is paid for this custody. It is a very good question anyway. I think that we have a staff that could answer you, but of course, there are two different information systems. Digital system and the paper system are not the same system. For the two types of shareholding procedures, there are two systems as well. When you look at the two systems, sometimes one of the systems is better than the others.
The best solution would be to have two very good systems. We have to improve that. It is very difficult to improve and change the system. It is quite complicated. No, concerning the custody rights. Je ne sais pas, j'ai vaguement l'impression que sur la période passée. I have the feeling that over the past, the custody payments were not enough. I'm not telling you that we're going to increase those custody payments, but it may not be enough. I told you this is a complicated topic, but we are going to tackle them in the future. Everything you say, we take note of that, and if you want, you can send us a mail to one of us. What you are describing is probably very representative of what other people experienced. You're not the only victim.
So probably other people have not really observed that, noticed that you may be more observant than others. Now, could you give me a reference ? We look exactly at what happened. Now, I think that we're going to do that, and we're going to ask the bank staff to do that. Now, I do know that every year some other shareholders would like to ask questions, but we don't have time anymore. We are behind schedule as it is. Once again, you can ask your questions in writing. You can ask the bank staff members questions, and I will see to it that all your questions will be answered. Let's move over to the voting procedure. Quorum is different. 79%. It's a very good quorum. Thank you very much for all those who have voted online and those who are in the room and are going to vote. Guillen?
Now, I'm going to give you explanations on the procedure. You have a box where you have 13 keys. You have to press on the red, yellow, and green keys. Red is against, yellow is abstention. For each resolution, you will have to press one key, only one key. The vote will start after each resolution has been read, and the chairman is going to say the vote is open. You have a clock on the screen, and it's going to take about 12 seconds. The chairman is going to say the vote is closed, and you won't have the opportunity to vote any longer. The results are going to be put on the screen a few seconds after the vote has been closed.
In order to avoid interferences, please switch off your telephone during the vote. Is it clear? Can we move over to the voting procedure? Presentation of the resolutions. Please press only on the green key if you want to vote for, and if you want to vote against, the red key, and if you want to abstain, the third key, which is yellow. Approval of accounts of a company financial accounts for 2024. The vote is opened. The vote is closed. Thank you. Approved, of course. Second resolution, approval of consolidated financial statement for the 2024 financial year. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.47% approval. Appropriation of results for 2024 and payout of dividends. Third resolution. Vote is closed. 99.99%. Fourth resolution. Dividend will be paid out.
Specific report of auditors on the related party agreements mentioned in Article L225-38 and following Articles of the Code of Commerce. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.30%. Thank you. Approved. Fifth resolution, authorization to buy back its own BNP Paribas, its own shares. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.3%. Sixth resolution, reappointment of Mr. Jean-Laurent Bonnafé as a director. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.16%. Congratulations to Jean-Laurent. Seventh resolution, reappointment of Ms. Lieve Logghe as a director. Vote is closed. 97.45%. Congratulations, Lieve. Very happy to be able to continue working with you. Eighth resolution, reappointment of Mr. Bertrand de Mazières as a director. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.80%. Congratulations. Welcome. Ninth resolution, appointment of Ms. Valérie Chort as a director. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.81%. Congratulations. Welcome. Tenth resolution, appointment of Mr. Nicolas Peter as a director. Vote is opened.
Vote is closed. 95.76%. Congratulations. Welcome, Mr. Peter. Eleventh resolution, appointment of Mr. Guillaume Poupard as a director. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 99.81%. Congratulations and welcome. Twelfth resolution, vote on the items of compensation policy allocated to the directors. The vote is opened. Vote is closed. 98.88%. Thirteenth resolution, vote on the items of compensation policy allocated to the chairman of the board. Vote is closed. 97.18%. Thank you. Fourteenth resolution, vote on the items of compensation policy allocated to the CEO. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 88.65%. Thank you. Fifteenth resolution, vote on the items of compensation policy allocated to the COOs. Vote is opened. Vote is closed. 94.22%. Sixteenth resolution, vote on the information concerning the compensation paid in 2024 or allocated during the same financial year to all the corporate officers. The vote is opened. Vote is closed. 96.76%. Thank you.
Seventeenth resolution, vote on the items of compensation paid in 2024 or allocated during the same financial year to Mr. Jean Lemierre, Chairman of the Board. The vote is opened. Vote is closed. 96.52%. Thank you. Eighteenth resolution, vote on the items of compensation paid in 2024 or allocated during the same financial year to Mr. Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, CEO. Vote is opened. The vote is closed. 94.08%. Thank you. Nineteenth resolution, voting on the items of compensation paid out in 2024 or granted for the same financial year to Yann Gérardin, Deputy CEO. The vote is opened. The vote is closed. 94.02%. Approved. Twentieth resolution, vote on the items for compensation paid out in 2024 or granted for the same fiscal year to Thierry Laborde, Deputy CEO. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 94.69%. Thank you. Twenty-first resolution, setting the annual compensation allocated to the board members.
Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 98.51%. Thank you. Twenty-second resolution, which is an advisory vote on the general budget for compensation of all kinds paid out during fiscal 2024 to the people who run the company and some categories of staff. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 99.53%. Thank you. Now, the extraordinary shareholders' meeting part, twenty-third resolution, increase of capital without preferential subscription right by issue of bonds, which would be converted into shares only if the CET1 ratio became below 5.125%. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 98.25%. Twenty-fourth resolution, operation reserved to the members of the employee savings scheme without preferential subscription rights. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 99.57%. Thank you. Twenty-fifth resolution, authorization to reduce capital by cancellation of shares. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 99.85%. Thank you.
Twenty-sixth resolution, which is about changing the bylaws relative to the age limit of the CEO. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 98.47%. Thank you. Twenty-seventh resolution, about changing the bylaws relative to the age limit of the chairman of the board. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 97.17%. Thank you. Twenty-eighth resolution, about changing the bylaws relative to the age limit of the Deputy Chief Executive Officers. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 98.63%. Thank you. Twenty-ninth resolution, about changing the provisions of the bylaws relative to the discussions of the board so as to benefit from the so-called modernization measures introduced by the so-called French law called attractivity. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 99.87%. Thank you. Thirtieth resolution, about changing the bylaws in order to put them into compliance with the attractivity law and its application ordinance.
Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 99.87%. Thank you. Thirty-first resolution, about the powers for carrying out formalities. Voting is opened. Voting is closed. Approved by 99.99%. Thank you.
This ends the round of resolutions. Before you all go, I would like to make two brief announcements. The first is an important one, according to me, and it is important for the board. Board members will be analyzing and reviewing your votes for and against to understand the underlying messages which go through your votes. This is important also for the compensation committee members. We see to it that this information is taken on board. My second comment is with a view to thanking you, thanking you for being present, for voting, for contributing. It is very important to us.
We are working for you, our shareholders, for the employees, for the stakeholders, and your personal involvement to this AGM is of great importance. Your questions, and I hope the answers we give to your answers contribute to the sharing and this exchanging. Again, a big, sincere thank you for being here. Enjoy the rest of the day.