BNP Paribas serves local market with globally competitive strengths

“BNP Paribas is an international bank with strong positions in Taiwan,” said Olivier Rousselet, Country Manager of BNP Paribas Taipei Branch. The bank extended its network into southern Taiwan when the Kaohsiung branch was established as its second foothold on the island in 1991. Three years ago, the bank founded a securities subsidiary in Taiwan focusing on brokerage and market research. In addition, Cardif Life Insurance entered Taiwan under the same group with a branch office that was inaugurated in 1997.

The group’s local operations were joined with another affiliate, the Bank of the West (the fifth largest bank in the U.S. state of California), which established its first business presence in Taiwan just two months ago, around the time when Rousselet assumed his new post in Taipei. Rousselet has worked with BNP Paribas for 19 years, among which 14 years were spent in the Greater China area—seven years in Hong Kong and seven years in Mainland China.

Having been working in Hong Kong, Beijing and Taipei, Rousselet well perceives the differences between the three sides of the Greater China area. Basically, he observed "Taipei is [very] similar to Hong Kong in terms of financial market structure—sophisticated, mature and free of competition." Comparatively, he continued, China's financial market is not so well developed, despite significant progress in recent years. "The banking sector moves ahead at a faster pace, but it may take years for the capital market to catch up," the French banker commented.

Local operations

As Rousselet outlines, BNP Paribas currently runs three core businesses in Taipei; the Corporate and Investment Banking section covers a wide range of financial advisory and capital market services such as fixed-income, loan syndications, trade finance, equities and other specialized financing services for corporate clients.

The client coverage sector manages the bank's client portfolio along with financial institutions and large corporations, with a team of senior bankers dedicated to maintaining close relationships with clients.

The Wealth Management Sector, which embraces largely private banking businesses, serves high net worth individuals with personalized portfolio, providing highly engineered and diversified advice, tailored to meet each client's specific needs and potential for growth in wealth value. BNP Paribas created the Wealth Management Sector for its Taipei branch three years ago, a move following Taiwan’s market liberalization policy to open the sector to foreign players. The Kaohsiung branch reinforced its operations with this service earlier this year.

“The bank has developed a sound business foundation in Taiwan, and what we will do is to keep it on the upward track,” said Rousselet. “The banking group operates with a total of 150 local employees, in addition to around 550 others working under Cardif Life,” he estimated.

What makes Rousselet most proud of his bank, however, is not the growth in quantity, rather, he is especially satisfied with the performance of the securities subsidiary, “BNP Paribas has amongst the best equity analysts in Taiwan,” Rousselet said, quoting the latest survey by Asiamoney Journal.

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