BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is a French multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It was founded in 2000 from the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. With 190,000 employees, the bank is organized into three major business areas: Commercial, Personal Banking & Services (CPBS), Investment & Protection Services (IPS) and Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB). The group is listed on Euronext Paris and a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. BNP Paribas is the largest banking group in Europe, and ninth-largest banking group in the world (by assets). It became one of the five largest banks in the world following the 2008 financial crisis. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. In the Forbes Global 2000, BNP Paribas was ranked as the 33rd largest public company in the world. History BNP Paribas results from a series of French and international mergers. Particularly notable were the merger of Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris and Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie that formed BNP in 1966, and the latter's merger with Paribas in 1999–2000. Other significant recent transactions involved the acquisitions by BNP Paribas in 2006 of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in Italy, and in 2008 of Fortis in Belgium and the Netherlands.