BNP expands Asia activities

BNP expands Asia activities

SINGAPORE (AFP): Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) announced here yesterday it had acquired control of an Asian stockbroking and corporate finance group as part of its regional expansion plans.

The French bank said in a statement it had completed on January 31 the acquisition of 70 percent of the principal business of PrimeEast Capital Group, a Singapore-registered stockbroking and corporate finance concern.

Renamed BNP PrimeEast, the new group operates out of Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, New York and Bangkok.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but the statement said PrimeEast had a "profitable 1996" and would expand "significantly" this year with the number of professional staff expected to grow 30 percent.

BNP is the third largest bank in France in terms of assets and profits and is locked in an intense rivalry with another French bank, Societe Generale, in the Asia-Pacific region.