BNP Paribas S.A.

• Date founded: 2000
• Industry: Banking; financial services
• Corporate headquarters: Paris, France
• Type: Public

Overview

BNP Paribas S.A. is a multinational bank that is widely recognized as one of the top European global banking and financial services companies. Headquartered in Paris, France, BNP Paribas maintains a presence in more than sixty countries worldwide and employs more than 180,000 people. The services offered by the bank are divided into two main categories: retail banking and services (RBS), and corporate institutional banking (CIB). The company’s RBS arm specializes in personal finance services, asset management, real estate, corporate vehicle leasing, leasing solutions, and personal investment in domestic markets. The CIB arm specializes in investment in global markets, securities services, and various treasury, financial, and advisory services for an array of corporate and institutional clients. On all levels, BNP Paribas seeks to help its clients realize their goals through services such as financing, investment, savings, and protection insurance.

BNP Paribas is a global company that operates an ever-growing network of financial services institutions around the world. In Europe, the company is split into four different domestic markets in Belgium, France, Italy, and Luxembourg. The RBS arm of BNP Paribas also has a presence in the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and the United States. The company’s CIB arm also enjoys a strong presence in Europe and the Americas, as well as a quickly growing presence in Asia and the Pacific. Its global reach and range of financial services has allowed BNP Paribas to emerge as one of the world’s largest and most successful banking and finance companies.

History

While BNP Paribas did not take its modern form until 2000, the company has a long and complicated history that dates back to the nineteenth century. The corporate lineage of BNP Paribas began with Comptoir National d’Escompte de Paris (CNEP) and the Banque Nationale Pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (BNCI), a pair of French banks that were both founded in 1848. CNEP, in particular, was founded to help save Paris businesses during a financial crisis. When the crisis was eventually resolved, CNEP evolved into a more profitable commercial institution that offered a broader range of activities. While CNEP primarily focused on Parisian commerce, it also expanded its presence into various French colonies and other countries. However, this eventually led CNEP to spread itself too thin. By the late 1880s, CNEP was on the brink of collapse. After being rescued by the Bank of France and other members of the French banking community, CNEP rebounded and started developing into one of the nation’s top financial institutions. In 1946, CNEP, BNCI, and several other deposit banks were nationalized as part of the French government’s post-World War II (1939–1945) recovery program. Though this move helped CNEP to thrive, it still remained the smallest of France’s nationalized banks. In the mid-1960s, the French government began considering the prospect of nationalizing banks and insurance companies in order to better concentrate the financial sector. This spurred CNEP and BNCI to merge in 1966 to become Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP). CNEP’s sizable strength in the domestic market and BNCI’s strength in foreign markets allowed BNP to grow at a prodigious rate. Within a few years, BNP had opened new branches in cities around the world.

Starting in the 1980s, the French government began exploring the possibility of privatizing the nation’s financial institutions. However, due to its large size, BNP was likely to be the last bank of its kind to be sold. This meant that it could take years for BNP to become a private entity. The process was delayed further when socialists regained power in the government and put an end to all talk of privatization. It was ultimately not until the return of a right-wing government in 1993 that BNP was finally able to privatize. As a private company, BNP continued to grow. When the euro was launched in 1999, a wave of mergers and acquisitions led to the rapid consolidation of Europe’s financial sector. As part of this trend, BNP attempted a hostile takeover of rival banks Société Générale and Paribas in a proposed deal that would have made BNP the largest banking enterprise in the world. While the takeover of Société Générale failed, BNP eventually merged with Paribas in 2000, and thus became BNP Paribas. Since that time, BNP Paribas has grown into one of the world’s leading financial institutions. In 2024, Forbes reported the company's profits to be $11.1 billion, their assets $2.9 trillion, and revenue for the year $157.6 billion.

Impact

The influence of BNP Paribas is felt around the world. With a widespread reach that extends to five continents, BNP Paribas is the largest French banking group, the largest bank in the Eurozone, and one of the ten largest banks in the world by assets. Further, BNP Paribas serves millions of customers and takes in billions of dollars every year. As a result, BNP Paribas is one of the most recognizable names in banking.

BNP Paribas’s successes have not come without controversy. Two such controversies were particularly damaging to the company’s reputation. The first came in 2014 when BNP Paribas was accused by the US Department of Justice of violating both the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA). The bank illegally processed billions of dollars through the American financial system on behalf of various foreign entities subject to US economic sanctions. The company ultimately pled guilty to the charges and was forced to pay $8.9 billion in fines. BNP Paribas also pledged to adopt new policies designed to ensure that similar violations would not occur again. In 2017, reports surfaced that the company accidentally sold 326,400 euros ($370,648) of securities to a German investor when the actual value of those securities was 163 million euros ($185 million). This incident also led to the revelation that BNP Paribas failed to properly book all trades in structured financial products in Germany for an entire week in December 2015. In 2024, the bank faced allegations and a lawsuit that it helped the Sudanese government commit genocide. A case against the bank was originally filed in 2016 for the allegations but was dismissed in 2018 before being revived in 2019.

On a more positive note, BNP Paribas is strongly committed to philanthropy. Much of this commitment is carried out through the company’s BNP Paribas Foundation. Founded by Paribas in 1984, the foundation engages in three fields of action: culture, solidarity, and environment. In terms of culture, the foundation supports creativity in contemporary dance, new circus arts, jazz music, art restoration, and classical music festivals. As it pertains to solidarity, the foundation supports social inclusion and promotes programs aimed at professional integration, job creation, refugee integration, and more. In relation to environment, the foundation supports numerous laboratories that conduct research on climate change.

Bibliography

“About BNP Paribas.” BNP Paribas, 2023, usa.bnpparibas/en/bnp-paribas/bnp-paribas-group. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

“BNP Paribas Agrees to Plead Guilty and to Pay $8.9 Billion for Illegally Processing Financial Transactions for Countries Subject to U.S. Economic Sanctions.” United States Department of Justice, 30 June 2014, www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bnp-paribas-agrees-plead-guilty-and-pay-89-billion-illegally-processing-financial. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

“BNP Paribas.” Capital.com, 2019, capital.com/bnp-paribas-definition. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

“BNP Paribas.” Forbes, 2022, www.forbes.com/companies/bnp-paribas. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

“BNP Paribas SA.” Financial Times, 2023, markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/profile?s=BNP:PAR. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

“BNP Paribas SA.” Vault, 2019, www.vault.com/company-profiles/commercial-banking-and-investment-banking/bnp-paribas-sa. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

Stempel, Jonathan. "BNP Paribas Must Face Lawsuit Over Sudanese Genocide, US Judge Rules." Reuter, 18 Apr. 2024, www.reuters.com/legal/bnp-paribas-must-face-lawsuit-over-sudanese-genocide-us-judge-rules-2024-04-18/. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025.