BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France with assets worth over EUR 2 trillion, has registered a branch at the Commerce Registry in December of last year, and according to information from the National Bank (BNR), cited by ZF.ro. The Bucharest branch may start granting loans and attracting deposits at the end of this month.
The Romania bank will be called BNP Paribas Personal Finance and it is a branch of the retail division of the same name in France. BNP Paribas Personal Finance is entirely owned by the BNP Paribas Group and it is the leader of the retail market in France. Through this retail division, BNP operates in 30 countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia.
The retail bank closed last year with a net profit worth EUR 1.4 billion and a credit stock of EUR 76.5 billion.
The French giant BNP is already present in Romania in the crediting sector through the non-bank financial institution Cetelem, which will most likely be taken over by BNP Paribas Personal Finance.