BNP Paribas Plans ‘Significant’ Job Cuts at Investment Bank
BNP Plans ‘Significant’ Cuts at Investment Bank
Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg
BNP Paribas fell as much as 5.5 percent in Paris trading, and was down 1.14 euros, or 4.7 percent, to 23.32 euros by 1:49 p.m., valuing the bank at 28.2 billion euros ($38 billion).
BNP Paribas fell as much as 5.5 percent in Paris trading, and was down 1.14 euros, or 4.7 percent, to 23.32 euros by 1:49 p.m., valuing the bank at 28.2 billion euros ($38 billion). Photographer: Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg
BNP Paribas (BNP) SA, France’s largest bank, plans “significant” staff reductions at its investment- banking unit as the lender cuts total assets by about 10 percent, Chief Executive Officer Baudouin Prot said.
“It’s essentially at our corporate- and investment-banking platforms,” Prot said in an interview on BFM radio today. “It will be a significant magnitude, but without reaching at all the figures announced by other banks, especially Anglo-Saxon ones,” he said, declining to give further details.
Prot also denied that the bank is making specific attempts to attract a Middle Eastern investor, as reported in the Financial Times.
BNP Paribas fell as much as 5.8 percent in Paris trading, and was down 1.04 euros, or 4.7 percent, to 23.42 euros by 4:49 p.m., valuing the bank at 28.3 billion euros ($38 billion). The stock has fallen 51 percent this year.
European banks are slashing jobs this year as concerns about the creditworthiness of Italy, Spain and France roil financial markets and reduce revenue from fixed-income trading, stock and bond underwriting as well as mergers and acquisitions. Financial firms are also cutting costs as regulators force banks to hold more and better quality capital.
Rival Moves
BNP Paribas in August reported second-quarter pretax profit at the corporate- and investment-banking division climbed 2.4 percent to 1.33 billion euros. That contrasts with a drop in investment-banking earnings in the period at rivals Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG, which both reported a 71 percent decline. Barclays Plc had a 27 percent slide in investment- banking pretax profit.
UBS said last month it will eliminate about 3,500 jobs, with about 45 percent of the reductions coming from the investment bank. Credit Suisse has announced plans to cut about 2,000 total positions at the company, while Barclays will axe 3,000 workers.
Prot said in August that he had no plans to cut staff at the division and that there was “no reason to make any brutal adjustments” in the unit’s cost structure.
The French lender has 21,000 people across more than 50 countries at the corporate- and investment-banking division, according to bank data.
“No particular measure is to be expected” for job cuts at BNP Paribas’s consumer bank networks, especially in France, the CEO said today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fabiobv@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
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