A French bank plans to pay more than $20 million to three plaintiffs over allegations of human rights abuses.
Published October 20, 2025
BNP Paribas shares have fallen as much as 10% after a US jury found the French bank supported the Sudanese government’s genocide by providing banking services in violation of US sanctions, raising questions about whether the bank will be exposed to further legal claims.
The bank’s shares fell in the New York market on Monday morning.
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A federal jury in Manhattan on Friday ordered BNP Paribas to pay a total of $20.5 million to three Sudanese plaintiffs who testified about human rights abuses committed under former President Omar al-Bashir’s rule.
The Paris, France-based bank announced it would appeal the ruling.
“This result is clearly wrong and ignores important evidence that the bank was not authorized to implement,” the company said in a statement Monday.
Traders and analysts said uncertainty about whether BNP Paribas could face further claims or fines weighed on the bank’s shares on Monday and was likely to continue to do so.
The stock price fell as much as 10% at one point, and ended up dropping 8.7%, which was expected to be the largest single-day decline since March 2023.
Lawyers for the three plaintiffs, who currently live in the United States, said the ruling clears the way for more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees living in the United States to seek billions of dollars in damages from French banks.
BNP said: “This judgment is specific to these three claimants and should not be applied more broadly. As with any speculation regarding a potential settlement, any attempt to make one is necessarily wrong.”
Nevertheless, analysts say the news is likely to weigh on the bank’s stock price in the coming months.
“The combination of potential financial implications and lack of visibility on the next legal action, reminders of 2014 stock performance, and a relatively less error-prone capital path are likely to keep stocks depressed until we get further guidance,” RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a note.
In 2014, BNP Paribas agreed to plead guilty and pay an $8.97 billion penalty to resolve U.S. charges that it transferred billions of dollars to companies in Sudan, Iran and Cuba that are subject to economic sanctions.
RBC said the bank’s stock underperformed its sector by 10% from the first litigation provisions booked in early 2014 to the settlement in June 2014.
