BNP Paribas in the United Kingdom


BNP Paribas has had a presence in the UK for 130 years and London is the bank's second global headquarters. The group has a total workforce of 6,600 in the UK including its subsidiaries.

• 1867: Comptoir National d'Escompte de Paris (CNEP) establishes a London branch, the first French bank to open in this country



• 1932 : Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (later to merge with CNEP to create BNP) opens a London branch in 1939. This branch was later incorporated as the British and French Bank (for Commerce and Industry) Ltd in 1947



• 1964: Paribas creates a subsidiary specialising in corporate banking and merchant banking and converting to a branch in 1969



• 1984: Paribas Capital Markets created to undertake all capital market activities in London



• 1986: Paribas acquires the broker Quilter Goodison



• 1989: Creation of Paribas Futures Ltd. Today BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Ltd.is one of the top tier players in oil futures



• 1997: Paribas moves to a new purpose-built building at 10 Harewood Avenue which becomes BNP Paribas' UK headquarters after the merger in May 2000

Our clients are Corporate, institutional, commodities, market making and broking entities.

• Corporate Market:
  
  • syndicated (management, underwriting & agency roles), bi-lateral structured, acquisition and tax based lending, export, project & public private finance, guarantees & cash management.
  • management of foreign exchange risk (sport, forward, options) for all currencies including exotic currencies, management of short-term and long-term interest rate risks (Forward Rate Agreements, futures, swaps, options), Euro-bond and Equity issues.
  • structured transactions (tax driven, LBOs, etc,), acquisition finance.
  • merger & acquisition advisory role.

• Institutional market:
  
  • syndicated (management, underwriting & agency roles) bi-lateral, structured, acquisition and tax based financing, public private finance, cash management & guarantees.
  • management of foreign exchange risk (spot, forward, options) for the full range of currencies, management of short-term and long-term interest rate risks (Forward Rate Agreements, futures, swaps, options), Euro-bond and Equity issues, buying and selling of bonds and shares on the secondary market repurchase of securities and stock lending.
  • Asset management (institutional only),
  • Structured transactions (tax-driven, LBOs, etc), acquisition finance, merger & acquisition advisory role.

• Commodities, Energy & Trade Finance:
  
  • Funding of international trade including finance & trading of physical cargoes.
  • management of foreign exchange risk for the full range of currencies,
  • documentary letters of credit,
  • means of payment
  • means of collection

• For private customers:
BNP Paribas offers a wide range of products and services to high net worth clients, mainly from the Middle East, the eastern Mediterranean, Africa and the Indian sub-continent.