BNP Paribas warned investors on Friday that a debt-trading bonanza that supported its earnings last year was unlikely to last, though the worst of the global coronavirus crisis was over for its loan book. Provisions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic took their toll on fourth-quarter net profit, with the lender saying it had set aside more money to cover loans that could turn sour. But the eurozone s biggest listed bank struck a more upbeat note for 2021. It said it expects the cost of risk, which reflects provisions for bad loans, to drop from 2020 levels as the outlook improves in the second half.
Britain on Friday said it had agreed on a deal with German biotech firm CureVac to work to develop vaccines against coronavirus variants, placing an initial order for 50 million doses in case they are needed. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cited the possibility of new variants of the coronavirus as one of the biggest risks to the vaccine rollout and hopes that the economy can start to be reopened from lockdown in the spring. The government said both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines being currently rolled out appear to work well against variants currently dominant in Britain. But we must be prepared for all eventualities and bolster onshore UK manufacturing capacity to develop vaccines to combat new variants of the disease, taking advantage of our world-leading genomics expertise, health minister Matt Hancock said in a statement.