BNP Paribas is the leading bank in the euro zone in terms of profits and market capitalization, and is also one of the six strongest banks in the world rated AA by Standard & Poor’s. All of the group’s businesses operate across Europe, with France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg comprising its four retail banking domestic markets. BNP Paribas has one of the largest international networks in the world with presence in over 80 countries and more than 205,000 employees, including 162,200 in Europe. Against the backdrop of an uneven economic climate, BNP Paribas has improved its competitive positions, strengthened its financial foundations and continues to achieve a high return on equity with a high solvency level. The bank was established in 2000 through the merging of BNP and Paribas, the two most significant financial institutions in Europe, which date back to the beginning of the 19th century, and has continuously evolved over the last ten years, through organic and external growth (BNL, Fortis acquisitions) adapting itself successfully to a rapidly-changing environment.
In Turkey, BNP Paribas has a long history in the fields of corporate investment banking and consumer finance, beginning first with the Ottoman Bank (1920) and later followed by BNP Ak Dresdner (1996) and Anadolu Cetelem (1998). In 2005, BNP Paribas had become 50 percent shareholder of TEB Mali which owned 85 percent of Türk Ekonomi Bank A.S. and consolidated its position within the region. In addition to Ukraine, Turkey is hosting one of the two largest investments made by the BNP Paribas Group in the developing countries in recent years. Supported by the strong fundamentals of the Turkish market, TEB had been seen as an interesting investment opportunity and six years later, has become one of Turkey’s leading banks in terms of number of branches, size of assets and new product launching. While the number of branches was 75 in 2005, they increased to 334 in 2010 and following the TEB and Fortis Bank Turkey merger in February 2011, the “new TEB” now operates 630 branches, while the number of employees has reached 10,000. TEB maintains its competitive edge with BNP Paribas’s international banking network, and the bank provided numerous innovative products, services and applications that resulted in a high level of customer satisfaction, especially in retail and commercial banking. TEB’s activities have received widespread acclaim and won many awards in Turkey and abroad.
BNP Paribas considers Turkey to be a strategic country in which to expand its financial product offer. Cardif, the leader in the retail loan protection products market, invested in Turkey with 100 percent capital of BNP Paribas in 2007. A major player in the Turkish insurance market, Cardif is the exclusive provider of BNP Assurance savings and designs and markets pension and personal protection products and services across the retail organization of TEB, which has three million retail clients and has forged partnerships with the main banks and financial institutions in Turkey. As of today Cardif Turkey holds a 95 percent market share in retail loan protection risk in Turkey.