BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas (sometimes referred to as BNPP or BNP) is a multinational universal bank and financial services holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was founded in 2000 from the merger of two of France's foremost financial institutions, Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas. It also incorporates many other major institutions from successive mergers and acquisitions, including Fortis Group (and through it, the Générale de Banque, ASLK / CGER and Nationale Maatschappij voor Krediet aan de Nijverheid/Société Nationale de Crédit à l'Industrie) in Belgium, Direkt Anlage Bank in Germany, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in Italy, Banque Générale du Luxembourg in Luxembourg, and Türk Ekonomi Bankası in Turkey. The Group has also been present in the United States through its subsidiaries Bank of the West until 2023 and First Hawaiian Bank until 2019. 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).

BNP Paribas is listed on Euronext Paris and a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. It 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. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.

Even though BNP Paribas is often referred to as a French bank, the Belgian government is a significant shareholder with 5.3 percent equity ownership (as of mid-2023), and the bank's oldest significant predecessor entity is the Société Générale de Belgique established in 1822.