French banking giant Société Générale slumped into a net loss in 2020 as the pandemic battered the global economy despite a recovery in the second half, it said on Wednesday.

The group reported a net loss of €258 million for last year, compared to a profit of around €3.2 billion in 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the bank to boost bad loan provisions and take various accounting charges.

Net banking income – equivalent to turnover – fell by 10 per cent last year.

Over the first six months, SocGen recorded a net loss of around €1.6 billion but  it reported a “significant improvement” in the second half, it said in a statement.

It posted a net profit of €862 million in the third quarter and €470 million in the fourth, although this was down almost 30 per cent compared to a year earlier.

“The Q4 results provide further confirmation of the rebound in our businesses observed in Q3 after a beginning of the year marked by the impacts of the COVID crisis,” CEO Frederic Oudea said in the statement.

The Q4 results provide further confirmation of the rebound in our businesses observed in Q3 after a beginning of the year marked by the impacts of the COVID crisis- Société Générale CEO Frederic Oudea

In the second half, “we defined ambitious and value-creating strategic trajectories for our businesses, demonstrating our ability to adapt and transform in a durably more uncertain environment”.

For 2021, the group said it would “maintain strict discipline... against the backdrop of an improvement in the economic outlook with a slight increase in costs”.