BNP Paribas

A French financial services and insurance provider, BNP Paribas resulted from a new millennium merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas (formerly Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas).

With origins dating as far back as 1848, the international company has grown to become a leading European bank, currently holding a presence in 75 countries and carrying a worldwide network of industry specialists. Priding themselves on fostering a strong workforce, BNP Paribas became certified as one of Europe’s top employers in 2016.

Despite a profit slump in the final quarter of 2017, the leading lender reported a full-year pre-tax profit of 11.3 billion euros, up 0.9 percent from last year, as well as a 0.7 percent increase on net income attributable to shareholders.

In 2018 the bank launched a new investment fund to support startups looking to disrupt the financial services and insurance industries. Managed by BNP Paribas Capital Partners, the fund marks a turning point in their Open Innovation strategy, with the company already announcing several strategic investments in tech-driven startups such as Serena Data Venture, Viola Fintech and Ventech China.

BNP Paribas and three other French firms announced the launch of an innovation centre based in Brazil in January 2020, which will aim to accelerate startups and help BNP Paribas 'gain efficiency'. The company aims to conduct 8 projects over 2020, two for each of BNP Paribas' four business sectors (fleet management, retail banking, insurance and CIB).

Also in January 2020, BNP Paribas partnered with open banking platform Tink, to provide data aggregation and engagement services to the bank's Italian retail network, as an expansion on BNP Paribas Fortis' previous partnership in 2019.