BNP Paribas, the largest French bank and the second largest in the EU by the size of assets, will launch its retail operations in Romania by opening its Bucharest branch, by the end of the month.
The French group has registered the BNP Paribas Personal Finance branch at the Trade Register in December last year and will become able to grant loans by the end of January, according to BNR, quoted by zf.ro.
BNP Paribas Personal Finance Bucharest is a branch of the retail division with the same name in France. BNP Paribas Personal Finance is wholly owned by BNP Paribas Group and 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.
BNP Paribas replicates this way the model of ING Bank, which also has a branch in Bucharest and not a subsidiary, like BRD for Societe Generale, for instance. The branch escapes the BNR jurisdiction in certain respects.
The French bank has assets of about two trillion euros, according to the latest Global Finance data. Its retail division closed last year with a net profit of EUR 1.4 billion and a loan volume of EUR 76.5 billion.
BNP Paribas is present in Romania since 2005, following the acquisition of Credisson International IFN by the Cetelem branch, and now the IFN portfolio could now be taken over by BNP Paribas Personal Finance branch.
The French group is also active in Romania in the insurance sector through BNP Paribas Cardif and in the leasing and real estate field, through BNP Paribas leasing Solutions, respectively BNP Paribas Real Estate.
