BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas (, ) is one of the main banks in Europe and France. It was created 23 May, 2000 through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas. Together with Société Générale and Crédit Lyonnais it is part of the "three old" banks of France. It is part of the CAC 40. Nadhmi Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings (GenMed) is its largest single shareholder. According to Auchi's lawyer, since 2001 GenMed has reduced its BNP Paribas stake to about 0.4 percent of the bank's total shares, about half of the position he held before then. That stake would still make Mr. Auchi one of the bank's biggest single shareholders, according to the New York Times.

History

BNP was created in 1966 by the merger of Banque Nationale du Commerce et de l'Industrie (BNCI) and Conservatoire Nationale d'Escompte de Paris (CNEP). BNP was privatised in 1993.

Originally the Compagnie Financière de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Finance Corporation of Paris and the Netherlands), the Compagnie Financière de Paribas became simply Paribas in 1998 after acquiring the Compagnie Bancaire.

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.

Until 2001, all Iraqi oil revenues from the Oil for Food program were held in an escrow account run solely by BNP Paribas. Later, the money was held by several unnamed international banks.

Activity

Profile

BNP Paribas is the largest bank in the Eurozone by market capitalization and profit. It employs 109,780 people, of which 80,000 work in Europe, and maintains a presence in 87 countries. The bank is active in the finance, investment and asset management markets.

In France, BNP Paribas is active in retail banking with 2,200 branches and over 3,200 ATM machines. BNP Paribas serves over 6 million French households and 60,000 corporate customers.

Events in 2005

On September 23, 2005, BNP Paribas is set to take a 20 percent stake in China's Nanjing City Commercial Bank, a Chinese official and state press reports said on Friday. "BNP is going to sign a deal with us to buy a stake next month," an official from Nanjing City Commercial told AFP. The Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post said BNP would pay up to US$100 million, although the bank official said the figure was incorrect. He declined to give further details. The French newspaper La Tribune reported last month that BNP Paribas had talked to four Chinese commercial banks—Ningbo, Wuxi, Nanjing and Suzhou—and was prepared to invest US$50–100 million. "We've talked to different financial institutions, but only BNP showed its good faith. It was not easy for us to reach an agreement," the Nanjing City Commercial Bank official said. BNP Paribas refused to comment. The International Financial Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank, already owns 15 percent of Nanjing City Commercial Bank, which has regulatory approval to list on the country's domestic stock markets.

References

Major shareholders

Nadhmi Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings

Subsidiaries

External links

Banks of France | Investment banks | Banks of the European Union

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