Who is BNP Paribas?

Published by Thomas Herold in Banking, Corporate Finance, Investments, Trading

'BNP Paribas' is explained in detail and with examples in the Trading edition of the Herold Financial Dictionary, which you can get from Amazon in Ebook or Paperback edition.

BNP Paribas is the largest French-based bank in the world. It has strong roots in the banking history of Europe. Today it remains one of the leading banks on the continent and Euro zone as well as an important international banking group. The group claims 189,000 employees around the world, of which the overwhelming majority of 146,610 are based in Europe.

It also has an extensive international network of branches and employees. The bank maintains 19,845 employees in America; 12,180 workers in Asia; 9,860 staff members in Africa; and 580 employees in the Middle East, as of 2015. BNP Paribas locations can be found in 75 different countries and territories around the world. For 2015, it boasted 42.9 billion euros of revenue and 6.7 billion euros of net profit.

The bank organizes itself along two main business lines. These are Retail Banking and Services (RBS) and the Corporate Institutional Banking (CIB) divisions. The Retail Banking & Services division covers its retail banking activities and specialized financial products and services in both France and the rest of the world. The company subdivides this into Domestic Markets and International Financial Services.

The group’s Domestic Markets is comprised of the company’s four retail banking networks found in the euro zone, as well as three specific lines of business. The retail bank networks are FRB French Retail Banking located in France, BNP Paribas Fortis in Belgium, BNL in Italy, and BGL BNP Paribas found in Luxembourg. Its three specific business lines are Arval the long term corporate leasing program, its Leasing Solutions that provide financing and rental services, and its Personal Investors that offer online brokerage services and savings vehicles.

Corporate clients also can access the business of Cash Management and Factoring. High Net Worth Individuals have the company’s Wealth Management business as their private banking franchise within the domestic markets of the group. As of 2015, the Domestic Markets subdivision boasts over 15 million individual customers located in 27 countries. The bank also counts almost 1 million clients comprised of professional individuals, small businesses, and corporate entities. To service these numerous accounts, they devote the efforts of 68,000 employees in these over two dozen countries.

International Financial Services of the group handles the company’s diversified business activities operating in over 60 countries. The group’s Personal Finance provides credit to people residing in 30 countries. They deliver products and services via such major brands as Findomestic, Cofinoga, and Cetelem.

The IFS division also operates several other businesses. International Retail Banking covers the retail bank operations in another 15 non-euro zone nations like TEB in Turkey and Bank of the West in the U.S. BNP Paribas Cardif offers savings and insurance for assets, projects, and individuals living in 36 countries.

IFS rounds out its business lines with three specific asset management and private banking operations. These include the group’s Wealth Management for private banking, their Investment Partners for asset management, and their BNP Paribas Real Estate for international real estate services. All of the International Financial Services businesses and lines together employ over 80,000 staff residing in over 60 countries.

The group’s Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB) prides itself on being a leading worldwide provider of financial products and services to its institutional and corporate clients around the globe. They group counts 13,000 of these clients in 57 countries throughout Europe/Middle East/Africa, the America, and Asia Pacific. To support them it maintains nearly 30,000 staff.

The company delivers specialized services that help their clients through treasury, financing, securities services, capital markets, and financial advisory offerings. It proves to be a world-renowned leader throughout numerous disciplines. As such, CIB has vast expertise in derivatives, risk management, structured financing, and other areas. The CIB division serves as a bridge between the two types of clients it counts by helping its corporate clients to obtain financing while offering investment possibilities to its institutional investors.

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The term 'BNP Paribas' is included in the Trading edition of the Herold Financial Dictionary, which you can get from Amazon in Ebook or Paperback edition.