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BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between
Banque Nationale de Paris BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...
(BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the
Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas The Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (“Bank of Paris and the Netherlands”), generally referred to from 1982 as Paribas, was a French investment bank based in Paris. In May 2000, it merged with the Banque Nationale de Paris to form BNP Paribas ...
. The full name of the group's parent entity is BNP Paribas S.A. With 190,000 employees as of February 2021, the bank is organized into three major business areas: Commercial, Personal Banking & Services (CPBS), Investment & Protection Services (IPS) and Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB). The group is listed on the first market of
Euronext Paris Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...
and a component of the Euro Stoxx 50
stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...
, while it also included in the French CAC 40 index. BNP Paribas is the largest banking group in Europe, after
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
, and ninth largest Banking group in the world, essentially a bulge bracket. It became one of the five largest banks in the world following the
2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of ...
. Despite some legal difficulties in 2014, including being fined the largest ever sum as reparation for violating U.S. sanctions, it remains one of the ten largest banks worldwide. It is considered a
systemically important bank A systemically important financial institution (SIFI) is a bank, insurance company, or other financial institution whose failure might trigger a financial crisis. They are colloquially referred to as "too big to fail". As the financial crisis o ...
by the Financial Stability Board.


History

BNP Paribas results from a series of French and international mergers. Particularly notable were the merger of
Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris The Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CNEP), from 1854 to 1889 Comptoir d'escompte de Paris (CEP), was a major French bank active from 1848 to 1966. The CEP was created by decree on 10 March 1848 by the French Provisional Government, in res ...
and
Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie The ''Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie'' (BNCI, "National Bank for Trade and Industry") was a major French bank, active from 1932 to 1966 when it merged with Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris to form Banque Nationale de Paris ...
that formed BNP in 1966, and the latter's merger with Paribas in 1999–2000. Other significant recent transactions involved the acquisitions by BNP Paribas in 2006 of
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006. History Founded in 1913 as Istituto Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione, ...
in Italy, and in 2008 of Fortis in Belgium and the Netherlands.


Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP)

On 7 March 1848, the French Provisional Government founded the
Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris The Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CNEP), from 1854 to 1889 Comptoir d'escompte de Paris (CEP), was a major French bank active from 1848 to 1966. The CEP was created by decree on 10 March 1848 by the French Provisional Government, in res ...
(CNEP) in response to the financial shock caused by the revolution of February 1848. The CNEP soon developed the largest international network of any French bank. BNCI resulted from the combination over time of a number of pre-existing banks: the Banque franco-égyptienne (est. 1870), which in 1889 became the Banque internationale de Paris; the Banque française d'Afrique du Sud (est. 1895); and the Banque Nationale de Crédit (est. 1912). After the end of the Second World War, the French state decided to "put banks and credit to work for national reconstruction".
René Pleven René Pleven (; 15 April 1901 – 13 January 1993) was a notable French politician of the Fourth Republic. A member of the Free French, he helped found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), a political party that was mean ...
, then
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
, launched a massive reorganization of the banking industry. A law passed on 2 December 1945 and which went into effect on 1 January 1946
nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
the four leading French retail banks: Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie (BNCI), Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CNEP),
Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cent ...
, and Société Générale. In 1966, the French government decided to merge Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris with Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie to create one new bank called Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP). The bank was re-privatised in 1993 under the leadership of Michel Pébereau as part of a second Chirac government's privatization policy.


Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (known from 1982 as Paribas)

Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas The Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (“Bank of Paris and the Netherlands”), generally referred to from 1982 as Paribas, was a French investment bank based in Paris. In May 2000, it merged with the Banque Nationale de Paris to form BNP Paribas ...
( Paribas) was established on 27 January 1872, through the merger of ''Banque de Crédit et de Dépôt des Pays-Bas'', whose origins go back to the bank established in 1820 by Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim in Amsterdam, and ''Banque de Paris'', which had been founded in 1869 by a group of Parisian bankers. It went on to develop a strong investment banking business both domestically in France and overseas. During the period 1872 to 1913, it was involved in raising funds for the French and other governments as well as big businesses through a number of bond issues. It helped the French government raise funds during the First World War and raised further capital and expanded into investments into industrial companies during the Great Depression. It stagnated and lost assets during the Second World War. After World War II, it escaped the nationalisation of other French banks due to its status as an investment bank and managed to take advantage of that by expanding its operations overseas. It also directs its activity towards businesses and participates in the development and restructuring of French industry, including names such as Groupe Bull and Thomson-CSF. The bank was nationalized in 1982 by the government of
Pierre Mauroy Pierre Mauroy (; 5 July 1928 – 7 June 2013) was a French Socialist politician who was Prime Minister of France from 1981 to 1984 under President François Mitterrand. Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. At the time of his d ...
under François Mitterrand as part of a law that nationalized five major industrial companies, thirty-nine registered banks, and two financial companies, Suez and Paribas. It was re-privatized in January 1987 by the Chirac government. In the 1990s, Paribas had an active policy of acquisitions and divestiture. This included selling the
Ottoman Bank The Ottoman Bank ( tr, Osmanlı Bankası), known from 1863 to 1925 as the Imperial Ottoman Bank (french: Banque Impériale Ottomane, ota, بانق عثمانی شاهانه) and correspondingly referred to by its French acronym BIO, was a bank ...
to
Doğuş Holding Doğuş () is a Turkish name and may refer to: * Doğuş Balbay, Turkish basketball player * Doğuş Holding, one of the top three largest private-sector conglomerates in Turkey * Doğuş University, private university in İstanbul See also * ...
, and setting up the joint venture lending company Cetelem in Germany. It sold
Crédit du Nord is a French retail banking network. It consists of the following banks: * , Toulouse, Aquitaine (oldest existing bank in France, founded in 1760) * , Alsace, Lorraine * , Savoy * , Massif Central * , Lyon * , Limoges * , Marseille * itself in t ...
to Société Générale and in 1998 it merged with ''Compagnie Bancaire'', renaming the bank with the official name ''Compagnie Financière de Paribas''.


Founding of BNP Paribas

In 1999, BNP and Société Générale fought a complex battle on the stock market, with Société Générale bidding for Paribas and BNP bidding for Société Générale and counter-bidding for Paribas. BNP's bid for Société Générale failed, while its bid for Paribas succeeded leading to a merger of BNP and Paribas one year later on 23 May 2000. In 2006, BNP Paribas purchased Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), Italy's sixth largest bank. On 9 August 2007, BNP Paribas became the first major financial group to acknowledge the impact of the sub-prime crisis by closing two funds exposed to it. This day is now generally seen as the start of the
credit crisis A credit crunch (also known as a credit squeeze, credit tightening or credit crisis) is a sudden reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from banks. A credit cr ...
and the bank's quick reaction saved it from the fate of other large European banks such as
UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swi ...
. On 6 October 2008, BNP took over 75% of troubled bank Fortis' activities in Belgium, and 66% in Luxembourg, in exchange for the Belgian government becoming the new group's major shareholder. The sales of the Fortis shares was suspended by a court order from the
Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...
on Friday 12 December On 14 December 2008, BNP announced it could lose €350 million as a victim of the Madoff fraud. In the end of January, the Belgian government and BNP negotiated for a 75% partnership in Fortis Bank Belgium. Fortis Insurance Belgium would be reintegrated in Fortis Holding. On 11 February, Fortis' shareholders decided that Fortis Bank Belgium and Fortis Insurance Belgium should not become property of BNP Paribas. However the acquisition was completed and BNP Paribas took 75% share holding and renamed the new subsidiary
BNP Paribas Fortis BNP Paribas Fortis is an international bank based in Belgium and is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas. It was formerly, together with Fortis Bank Nederland, the banking arm of the financial institution Fortis. After the ultimately unsuccessful ABN-AMR ...
. After this only Fortis Insurance International was left in Fortis Holding and this was renamed as Ageas, a business that had Insurance all over Europe and Asia. The remaining
Fortis Bank Netherlands Fortis Bank Nederland (formally Fortis Bank Nederland (Holding) N.V.) was a bank in the Netherlands until 2010. The holding came into being within Fortis Group, as a holding for those Dutch banks taken over by Fortis. In September–October 200 ...
was in the hands of the Dutch Government which merged it with other ABN AMRO holdings it already owned under the name
ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizati ...
. In May 2009, BNP Paribas became the majority shareholder (65.96%) of BGL (formerly Fortis Bank Luxembourg), the State of Luxembourg retaining 34% making BNP the eurozone's largest bank by deposits held. On 21 September, the bank's registered name was changed to
BGL BNP Paribas BGL BNP Paribas (formerly Banque Générale du Luxembourg or BGL) is a Luxembourgish bank founded on 29 September 1919. Since May 2009, the bank has been a member of the BNP Paribas group. It is the fifth-largest bank in the Grand Duchy of Luxembour ...
and in February 2010, BGL BNP Paribas became the 100% owner of BNP Paribas Luxembourg. The transfer was finalised on 1 October 2010 with the incorporation of BNP Paribas Luxembourg's business in the operational platforms of BGL BNP Paribas."The history of Fortis BGL BNP Paribas"
, ''BGL BNP Paribas''. Retrieved 9 September 2011
In 2013 BNP Paribas was awarded the Bank of the Year award by The International Financing Review ("IFR"), Thomson Reuters' leading financial industry publication. The IFR awards are a key industry benchmark and Bank of the Year is the top honour awarded.Mullin, Keith. (15 February 2012
Bank of the Year: BNP Paribas , All Special Reports
. IFRe. Retrieved on 6 December 2013.
BNP Paribas digs deep at charity auction
. Efinancialnews.com. Retrieved on 6 December 2013.

. Euromoney.com. Retrieved on 6 December 2013.
BNP Paribas reached an agreement in December 2013 to acquire Rabobank's Polish unit BGZ Bank for around $1.4 billion. In September 2014, BNP completed the purchase of BGZ Bank for a final fee stated in the media to be $1.3 billion. In June 2014, BNP Paribas pleaded guilty to falsifying
business records A business record is a document (hard copy or digital) that records an "act, condition, or event" related to business. Business records include meeting minutes, memoranda, employment contracts, and accounting source documents. It must be retrievab ...
and
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...
, having violated U.S. sanctions against Cuba, Iran, and Sudan. It agreed to pay an $8.9 billion fine, the largest ever for violating U.S. sanctions at that time. In December 2021, BNP Paribas announced to exit US retail banking business by selling its Bank of the West to the Bank of Montreal for $16.3bn.


Financial data

In 2021, total revenues of €46.2 billion represent an increase of 4.4% compared to 2020, BNP Paribas remains at the top of the French banks' ranking in terms of activity. During this year, BNP Paribas Group net income attributable to equity holders increased to 34.3% (to 9.5 billion euros). The geographic breakdown of Net Banking Income (NBI) at the end of 2020 is as follows: Europe (72.2%), North America (12.9%), Asia Pacific (8.6%) and others (6.3%).


Corporate identity

The BNP Paribas logo since 2000 (designed by Laurent Vincent under the leadership of the Communications Director, Antoine Sire) is called the "courbe d'envol" (curve of taking flight). The stars allude to Europe and universality. The transformation of the stars into birds conveys openness, freedom, growth, and the ability to change and adapt. The shape and movement of the curve places the logo in the universe of life. The green square symbolises nature and optimism.


Corporate structure


Executive Committee

The General Management and the executive committee are composed as follows: *
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé Jean-Laurent Bonnafé (born 14 July 1961) has been serving as chief executive officer of BNP Paribas since 2011. Early life and education The son of an Électricité de France (EDF) electrical engineer and a lawyer in Albi, Bonnafé attended the L ...
, Director and chief executive officer of BNP Paribas * Yann Gérardin, directeur général délégué, Chief Operating Officer, Corporate & Institutional Banking * Thierry Laborde, directeur général Délégué, Chief Operating Officer, Retail Banking * Laurent David, Deputy Chief Operating Officer * Renaud Dumora, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Investment & Protection Services * Marguerite Bérard, Head of French Retail Banking * Stefaan Decraene, Head of International Retail Banking * Charlotte Dennery, Director and chief executive officer of BNP Paribas Personal Finance * Bernard Gavgani, Chief Information Officer * Elena Goitini, chief executive officer of BNL * Nathalie Hartmann, Head of Compliance * Max Jadot, CEO and chairman of the executive board of BNP Paribas Fortis. * Yannick Jung, Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking Global Banking EMEA * Pauline Leclerc-Glorieux, Director and chief executive officer of BNP Paribas Cardif * Lars Machenil, Chief Financial Officer * Sofia Merlo, Head of Human Resources * Olivier Osty, Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking Global Markets * Franck Roncey, Chief Risk Officer * Antoine Sire, Head of Company Engagement


Board of directors

As of 17 May 2021: * Jean Lemierre (chairman), former president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development *
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé Jean-Laurent Bonnafé (born 14 July 1961) has been serving as chief executive officer of BNP Paribas since 2011. Early life and education The son of an Électricité de France (EDF) electrical engineer and a lawyer in Albi, Bonnafé attended the L ...
, CEO of BNP Paribas *
Jacques Aschenbroich Jacques André Aschenbroich (born 3 June 1954) is the CEO of Valeo. He is married and is the father of three children. Education * Baccalauréat at the Lycée Ampère in Lyon * Preparatory classes for the "Grandes écoles" at the Lycée du Pa ...
, chairman and CEO of
Valeo Valeo is a French global automotive supplier headquartered in France, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange ( CAC-40 Index). It supplies a wide range of products to automakers and the aftermarket. The Group employs 113,600 people in 33 countries w ...
* Pierre-André de Chalendar, chairman and CEO of Saint-Gobain * Monique Cohen, partner at
Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...
* Wouter De Ploey, CEO of ZNA * Hugues Epaillard, BNP Paribas Real Estate executive * Rajna Gibson Brandon, professor at the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...
*
Marion Guillou Marion Guillou (born 17 September 1954 in Marseille, France) is a French scientist specialized in global food security. Guillou wrote proposals for the French government on the agro-ecological transition (June 2013) and on the organization of th ...
, global food security academic * Denis Kessler, chairman and CEO of
SCOR SE SCOR SE is a French tier 1 reinsurance company providing Property and Casualty (P&C) and Life reinsurance solutions to its clients. It is one of the leading reinsurers in the world. Created in 1970 with the backing of the French government, its ...
* Daniela Schwarzer, director at the
German Council on Foreign Relations The German Council on Foreign Relations (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit org ...
*
Michel Tilmant Michel Tilmant (born 21 July 1952) is a banker and the former CEO of ING Group, a globally operating banking and insurance business based in the Netherlands. Biography Tilmant, a French speaking Belgian, graduated from the Université catholi ...
, former CEO of
ING Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...
* Sandrine Verrier, economic advisor * Jane Fields Wicker-Miurin, former
Prudential plc Prudential plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people. Prudential has dual primary listings on the London Stock E ...
executive Other Corporate Officers * Yann Gérardin, Chief Operating Officer of BNP Paribas in charge of CIB * Thierry Laborde, Chief Operating Officer of BNP Paribas in charge of Commercial, Personal Banking & Services


Major shareholders June 2021

* Belgian State (through SFPI) (7.7%) * Blackrock Inc. (6.0%) * Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (1.0%) * Employees (4.3%) * Retail shareholders (4.2%) * European institutional investors (43.4%) * Non-European institutional investors (31.4%) * Other and unidentified (2.0%)


Main subsidiaries


Retail banking

* BNP Paribas France (more than 2 200 branches) * BNP Paribas
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
* BancWest (
Bank of the West Bank of the West is an American financial institution headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It is a subsidiary of the French international banking group BNP Paribas and has more than 600 branches and offices in the Midwes ...
in the USA) * BNP Paribas El Djazaïr (
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
) * BMCI ( Morocco) *
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006. History Founded in 1913 as Istituto Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione, ...
(BNL) ( Italy) * Turk Ekonomi Bankasi (TEB) ( Turkey) *
BNP Paribas Fortis BNP Paribas Fortis is an international bank based in Belgium and is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas. It was formerly, together with Fortis Bank Nederland, the banking arm of the financial institution Fortis. After the ultimately unsuccessful ABN-AMR ...
( Belgium, Germany, Poland, Turkey) *
BGL BNP Paribas BGL BNP Paribas (formerly Banque Générale du Luxembourg or BGL) is a Luxembourgish bank founded on 29 September 1919. Since May 2009, the bank has been a member of the BNP Paribas group. It is the fifth-largest bank in the Grand Duchy of Luxembour ...
( Luxembourg) *
Hello bank! Hello bank! is a digital direct bank owned by BNP Paribas that started operations in 2013. The bank operates in France, Belgium, Germany (using the name Consorsbank), Italy, the Czech Republic and Austria. BNP Paribas has claimed that it is "the ...
*
Sahara Bank The Sahara Bank ( ar, مصرف الصحارى) is a Libyan commercial bank, established in 1964. The bank performs retail and corporate banking operations and its head office is located in Tripoli. Overview The Sahara Bank was established in 19 ...
( Libya) *
Ukrsibbank UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group is a commercial bank based in Ukraine. UKRSIBBANK has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1990. It operates network of 260 branches and 1000 ATMs throughout Ukraine, for 2 million customers all around Ukrain ...
( Ukraine) * BCI Mer Rouge
Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red S ...
* Banque de
Wallis et Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji t ...
* Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie du Sénégal ( Senegal) *
Bank BGŻ BNP Paribas A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
( Poland) * Findomestic ( Serbia) * BNP PARIBAS Jordan ( Jordan)


Other subsidiaries

*
Alfred Berg Alfred Berg is a Nordic asset manager with offices in Oslo and Stockholm with expertise in portfolio management and financial analysis. Alfred Berg is an independent part of BNP Paribas Asset Management. Alfred Berg was founded in Sweden in 1863, t ...
* BNP Paribas Arbitrage * BNP Paribas Assurances with Cardif, Pinnacle * BNP Paribas Investment Partners * BNP Paribas Partners for Innovation * BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK (Creation Financial Services Limited and Creation Consumer Finance Limited) * BNP Paribas Primebrokerag * BNP Paribas Real Estate (formerly Atisreal) * BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions with Arval, car leasing and Artegy *
BNP Paribas Securities Services BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the group ...
* BNP Paribas Wealth Management * Cetelem * Consors Finanz * CortalConsors * FundQuest * SBI Life Insurance Company Limited a joint venture insurance company with State Bank of India, India's largest financial service company, owned by the Government of India * Sharekhan, an Indian retail brokerage firm * * BNP Paribas Personal Investors Luxembourg * Protection 24 * SAIB-BNP Paribas Asset Management


Controversies


Antisemitic allegations

In 2016 BNP reached a $40m
settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...
with a Jewish employee. The employee had been made to watch a training video. The film portrayed
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
as the CEO of Deutsche Bank, one of BNP's competitors and the Nazi soldiers around him as Deutsche Bank executives. The video showed Hitler screaming at the soldiers. Also, his colleagues made a number of anti-semitic comments during his time at BNP Paribas.


Business with sanctioned countries: $8.9 billion fine

On 30 May 2014, '' The Wall Street Journal'' reported that the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
was negotiating a possible guilty plea with BNP Paribas as well as the size of the resulting fine for violating U.S. regulations and evading US sanctions. The Justice Department sought a fine of more than
US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
10 billion, which was expected to be reduced to $8 or $9 billion in negotiations.Justice Dept. Seeks More Than $10 Billion Penalty From BNP Paribas
, Wall Street Journal, 30 May 2014
BNP Paribas was said to have laundered up to US$100 billion from the sanctioned countries of Sudan, Iran, and Cuba. On 1 July 2014, BNP Paribas pled guilty in a
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...
state court to falsifying
business records A business record is a document (hard copy or digital) that records an "act, condition, or event" related to business. Business records include meeting minutes, memoranda, employment contracts, and accounting source documents. It must be retrievab ...
as well as
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...
in connection to those falsifications. It was also expected to plead guilty in federal court to violating laws against money-laundering. It agreed to pay $8.9 billion, the largest fine ever for violating U.S. sanctions, and substantially more than the previous record of $1.9 billion. BNP Paribas was also barred for one year under the plea agreement from certain US dollar-dominated transactions. The fine exceeded the bank's $6.4 billion 2013 annual income and the $1.1 billion it previously had allocated for the anticipated fine. The bank's failure to cooperate with the multi-year investigation was given as a significant factor in the size of the fine. Additionally, BNP Paribas continued to process sanctioned transactions after the investigation began. About 30 employees left the bank as a result of the investigation. According to the FBI's New York Field Office and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) "BNPP deliberately disregarded the law and provided rogue nations, and Sudan in particular, with vital access to the global financial system, helping that country's lawless government to harbor and support terrorists and to persecute its own people. Today's sentence demonstrates that financial institutions will be punished severely but appropriately for violating sanctions laws and risking our national security interests." After the fine was announced, BNP said it would be "just fine" and that it had "a comprehensive plan" to avoid similar violations in the future. The company's stock, which had fallen 12% since news of the investigation first leaked, rose 4% on the announcement. To comply with the transaction ban, BNP Paribas will use a third party to clear its US transactions.
Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is cons ...
said it was reviewing the bank's financial standing in light of the fine and penalties for a possible downgrade. Russian president Vladimir Putin alleged that the US government was using the case to punish France for selling Mistral amphibious assault ships to Russia. He said the large fine and the imposition of sanctions on the French bank were the result of US displeasure with France's decision not to stop the sale. Former European Central Bank president
Jean-Claude Trichet Jean-Claude Trichet (; born 20 December 1942) is a French economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 2003 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he served as Governor of the Bank of France from 1993 to 200 ...
had previously said that a large fine was neither fair nor proportionate to the violations and could disrupt the global banking system.


Check processing

In 2010 the French government's
Autorité de la concurrence The (; ) is France's national competition regulator. Its predecessor, the Competition Council, was established in the 1950s. The Competition Authority is an , responsible for preventing anti-competitive practices and monitoring the functionin ...
fined BNP and 10 other banks €384 million for colluding to charge unjustified fees on check processing, including extra fees during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer. On 19 January 2011 BNP sued Russian grain trader, OOO Rosinteragroservis, and its subsidiary OAO Kubankhlebprodukt, claiming US$20 million in debts and penalties.


Discrimination

In January 2022, a female banker was awarded £2M after the UK employment tribunal concluded that she had endured years of direct sex discrimination and victimisation. Her complaints include harassment and being paid thousands of pounds less than male colleagues in the same role.


Financing private prisons

In 2017, ICCR and the Families Belong Together Coalition began confronting banks about the human rights risks which accompany sponsoring the private prison industry. In 2019, BNP Paribas and other banks disengaged from the private prison industry.


€152 million risk management affair

The German ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...
''
FOCUS Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...
,
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ...
and the French '' Les Échos'' newspapers published an article regarding a €152 million mistrade ( erroneous trade) in which BNP Paribas Arbitrage was allegedly involved. The bank has sold securities for €326,400 to the investor Armin S. but the value of the securities is €163 million according to the bank. According to the article, the error remained unnoticed for several days. BNP has even reconfirmed the original price. However, a trade-cancellation was only possible until the next day according to prevailing erroneous trade rules. Michael Lusk published an article regarding this case with the title "Do banks' internal control system work?" A solicitor for Armin S., Mario Bögelein, stated in the article that a bank not recognizing an error of this magnitude should not be protected by law. The '' Financial Times'' published an article in March 2018 about the case with the title "BNP Paribas failed to book trades in Germany for a week". It cites internal documents that show it did not book all trades that happened in structured products in Germany from 2 to 9 December 2015. The Financial Times estimates that 8,500 trades might have been affected. It also questions if the bank has hedged their positions if the trades have not been booked. Armin S. is cited with the words "I don't think it's fair if on the one hand, BNP wants to rely on statutory safeguard clauses but on the other hand they ignored all control-tasks imposed by the regulators – ECB, BaFin and AMF – for a whole week"
ArminS vs BNP Paribas - 152m EUR risk management affair
Armin S also filed a claim for €152 million in Paris because the relevant jurisdiction is still unknown.


Sponsorship

BNP Paribas has been a major sponsor of tennis. In 1973 it became the major sponsor of the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...
, one of the four prestigious Grand Slam tournaments in the sport. In 2001 the bank began to sponsor the Davis Cup before becoming the title sponsor in 2002. In 2002 it became the sponsor of the
Paris Masters The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association ...
, an
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
tournament. In 2008 it became the sponsor of the
BNP Paribas Primrose Bordeaux The BNP Paribas Primrose Bordeaux is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Villa Primrose in Bordeaux ...
, an
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
tournament. The company's sponsorship expanded to the United States in 2009 when it became the title sponsor of the Indian Wells Masters, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 two-week tournament in California. It also sponsored the BNP Paribas Showdown and BNP Paribas Tennis Classic exhibition tournaments held in New York City and London respectively. The Stanford Classic, since 1992, is instead directly sponsored by the Bank of the West subsidiary.


See also

* Angolagate *
BNL BNP Paribas headquarters BNL BNP Paribas headquarters (2016), also known as Orizzonte Europa, is an office building in Rome. It was designed in a contemporary all-glass style by Alfonso Femia and Gianluca Peluffo. The building has a LEED certification for its energy ef ...
*
Cortal Consors Cortal Consors SA was a European broker in personal investing and online trading. Formed by a merger of French company Cortal and German company Consors, they launched a 2003 rebranding campaign. Cortal Consors was a subsidiary of BNP Paribas.Pl ...
*
European Financial Services Roundtable The European Financial Services Round Table (EFR) brings together chairmen and chief executives of leading European banks and insurance companies. The purpose of the EFR is to contribute to the European public policy debate on issues relating to fi ...
* List of banks *
List of French companies A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* List of investment banks *
List of investors in Bernard L. Madoff Securities Investors in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC lost billions of dollars in the Madoff investment scandal, a Ponzi scheme fraud conducted by Bernard Madoff. The amount missing from client accounts, over two thirds of which were fabricated ...
* Primary dealers


References


External links

*
List of branches and ATMs of BNP Paribas in France (with addresses, contacts and agencies opening hours)

Source d'Histoire, the website of the Archives and History department in BNP Paribas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bnp Paribas Financial services companies established in 2000 Banks established in 2000 Banks based in Paris Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank Companies listed on Euronext Paris CAC 40 Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50 French brands French companies established in 2000 Investment banks Investment management companies of France Multinational companies headquartered in France Primary dealers Systemically important financial institutions