BNP Paribas

Key corporate facts about one of the largest banks in the world is as under:

1. BNP Paribas S.A. is a French global banking group
2. Company is headquartered in Paris with its second global headquarters in London
3. Formed through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas in 2000
4. In 2012, BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the third largest bank in the world after Deutsche Bank and HSBC as measured by total assets
5. The International Financing Review (“IFR”), Thomson Reuters’ leading financial industry publication, named BNP Paribas its 2012 Bank of the Year
6. BNP Paribas escaped the 2007–09 credit crisis relatively unscathed reporting a €3 billion net profit for the year of 2008, and €5.8 billion for 2009, both years boosted by profits from trading in its Corporate and Investment Banking(CIB) division
7. BNP Paribas has one of the highest credit ratings in its peer group with the long term debt of the group currently ranked A+ by S&P, A2 by Moody’s and A+ by Fitch

Key Businesses

The firm is a universal bank split into strategic business units:

1) Retail banking

Retail banking is BNP Paribas’ largest business unit with its main operations concentrated in Europe with majority of presence in the Company’s three domestic markets namely France, Italy, and Belgium. Banc West, company’s American subsidiary operates as Bank of the West in the western United States.

Read more about List of Top Ten Banks in India

2) Corporate and Investment Banking

BNP Paribas is a leading global investment bank through its Corporate & Investment Banking unit also known as the CIB. The firm’s key business areas are:

• Fixed Income:  The division helps the companies’ hedge exposure to foreign exchange, interest rate, and credit risks through the structuring and sale of derivative products such as interest rate & foreign exchange swaps, options and credit derivatives.
• Equity & Derivatives: Help companies manage their risks and investment portfolios with equity derivatives such as options, futures, and swaps, as well as complex, customized solutions such as structured products.
• Commodity Derivatives: Division helps clients hedge their exposure to commodity risk through the structuring and sale of commodity futures and OTC commodity swaps.
• Investment Banking: As the name suggests the division performs most of the traditional investment banking functions which includes mergers and acquisitions advisory, and equity raising operations such as Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), rights issues, and convertible bond issues.
• Structured Finance: Offers clients project finance solutions, export financing, syndicated loans, and financing for acquisitions and leveraged buyouts.
• Corporate & Transaction Group: Offers clients simplified flow banking services including trade finance, international cash management, and basic hedging solutions.
• Investment solutions: The “Investment Solutions” unit contains asset management, custodial banking, real estate, insurance, wealth management activities.

BNP Paribas in India

BNP Paribas was one of the first banks to start its operations in India. The Company marked its presence in the Indian territory way back in 1860, when it began its operations in Calcutta. Since its inception in the Indian economy, company has progressed at a tremendous rate making its presence felt in the eight key metros & mini metros. Today, BNP Paribas is positioned amongst the leading corporate banks in India. The Company’s continuous integrity, consciousness and commitment towards the Indian businesses helped the Indian economy and firms to bail out of the ‘cotton crisis’ in 1865. The Company also protected the economy from crashing during the depression of 1929-32, then during the Second World War in 1940 and finally in from the scam of 1992.

Company Financials (in USD)

It is needless to say that the company has strong financials and have showed outstanding performance in the past. If we look at the company’s balance sheet key data we find company is cash rich but also has huge debt on its sheet. As compared to the Book Value Company’s share are currently under priced while trading at the levels of ~46. The Company has reported tremendous growth of over 144% Y-O-Y in its Quarterly earnings and has a bright outlook.