• BNP Paribas shares fell by more than 7% after a US jury's verdict on Sudan.
• The jury ordered the bank to pay nearly $21 million to three plaintiffs.
• There is potential for more Sudanese refugees to seek damages from the bank.
• BNP Paribas plans to appeal the verdict, claiming it ignores key evidence.
• Analysts express concern over the bank's future financial performance due to this ruling.

Shares in BNP Paribas, France's largest bank, experienced a decline exceeding 10% following a United States court verdict that found it liable for atrocities linked to the Sudanese government under former President Omar al-Bashir. The New York jury ordered the bank to pay approximately $21 million to three plaintiffs, now US citizens, who testified about severe human rights abuses they suffered as a result of the regime's actions, according to Le Monde, Al Jazeera, and Africanews.

The verdict highlighted BNP Paribas's involvement in facilitating Sudan's access to international financial markets during the 1990s and 2000s, which the plaintiffs claim contributed to the government’s capacity for violence against its populace. Following the ruling, BNP Paribas declared its "unwavering intention to appeal," asserting that the verdict is "clearly wrong" and that the evidence presented during the trial was incomplete, according to Le Monde and Africanews.

Potentially complicating matters, analysts have noted that this ruling could encourage more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees living in the United States to pursue billions of dollars in damages from the bank. BNP Paribas has maintained that the ruling should not be extrapolated to broader legal implications beyond the specific case presented, as highlighted by representatives from the bank and echoed in analysts' notes, according to Al Jazeera and Africanews.

As the market reacted negatively to the news, the shares dropped approximately 10% at one point and were down around 8.7% overall, marking the steepest decline since March 2023. Concerns about potential future legal claims and the ongoing financial implications of the verdict continue to pose challenges for the bank, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets, as covered in Le Monde, Al Jazeera, and Africanews.