BNP Paribas

Formed in 2000 by retail bank Banque Nationale de Paris’s hostile takeover of investment bank Paribas, the combined BNP Paribas now operates in 63 countries and has 183,000 employees. The EU’s largest bank by assets if not by revenues (see Banco Santander, 11), its largest two divisions reflect its twin origins—on the one side consumer and commercial banking focused on its home market of France, alongside Belgium, Italy and Luxembourg, and on the other global corporate and institutional banking. Paris-based BNP Paribas also has a smaller division, representing about 10% of the group, focused on insurance, pensions, wealth and asset management, and private banking.