Investment Banking chez BNP Paribas

Investment Banking at BNP Paribas

For BNP Paribas, the Investment Banking Division primarily consists of three key areas. One is Fixed Income, the other is Equity Derivatives, we call it Global Equity Derivatives now, and then the third area is Specialised Financing. We operate in a very client-centric organisation, so our goal is really to serve our clients to the best we can and provide the best product and the best pricing for our clients in order for our clients to achieve their goals.

Essentially we own the corporate-client relationships of the bank. So, I always look upon it as if you imagine a cartwheel, we’re right at sort of the hub of that cartwheel and the spokes go off to all the different product areas. Effectively we’re responsible for managing the risk of the bank, managing the capital that we have out for those clients and also marketing and selling the various products of the bank into the corporate client base.

Well basically corporate finance within BNP Paribas stands really for all advisory for merges and acquisitions for various companies, and in my particular field it would be metals and mining across the globe. Within BNP Paribas it’s a rather flat structure and what’s also very exciting I think for young professionals is that BNP Paribas offers the opportunities to work across the globe, that we actually encourage the mobility and we encourage people to work in different locations and there is also an opportunity to change businesses.

What we look for is, number one: they need to be a team player, secondly especially in my area of the business I look for people who have good analytical skills. It is important because we are in a number, sort of, crunching business if you will. A lot of what we do is financial analysis and balance sheet analysis; so being analytical is very important. The graduate programme is very important to BNP Paribas as a whole because what we need to do is to make sure that we train up the next generation of bankers.

Success can be defined in many ways… But in order to progress and I would say to build your career within BNP Paribas, the basic qualities would be, you need to be smart, you need to be driven, you need to be ambitious, you need to be diplomatic.

I think you join BNP Paribas if you want to be part of one of the world’s leading financial institutions. I think if you’re an achiever, if you’re hungry, if you’re ambitious and you’re driven and you want to work for one of the world’s leading financial institutions, but have a bit more of a work life/life balance, then BNP Paribas is, could be, the place for you.