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Appointments within BNP Paribas Equipment Solutions

Didier Chappet appointed CEO of BNP Paribas Lease Group.
New governance at Arval to be introduced in January 2011 with Philippe Bismut, CEO and Laurent Treca, Chairman.

Didier Chappet has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Lease Group, replacing Philippe Bismut in this role.

Philippe Bismut joins Arval as Special Advisor to the CEO, Laurent Tréca. On the 1st of January 2011, he will take up the position of CEO while Laurent Treca will remain Chairman of the company. Philippe Bismut remains also Chairman of BNP Paribas Lease Group and Head of Equipment Solutions, the entity of Retail Banking dedicated to equipment financing for corporates and professionals.

Graduated from the École Polytechnique and the Ecole des Ponts, Didier Chappet began his career in the public sector in 1979, working for the French Ministry of Equipment as Head of management and on-line data processing division, then as research and planning analyst from 1982. Two years later, Didier Chappet joined UCB, a real-estate funding specialist. He handled various managing roles from the sales force and the subsidiaries to general management and was appointed Chairman and CEO in 2001. In 2005, he took charge of the back office of the French Retail Banking of BNP Paribas Group, where he streamlined and modernized the organisation. In May 2010, Didier Chappet was appointed Special Advisor to Philippe Bismut.

Graduated from the École Polytechnique and MIT, and a Corps des Mines engineer, Philippe Bismut began his career in 1980 as Deputy General Secretary for France's Industrial Modernization Fund (ANVAR), before heading the Industrial Development Division of the Ministry of Industry for the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur and Corsica regions. From 1986 to 1996, he took several managing positions within Sagem, from IT and Data Processing department head to Director of Satelcom UK in 1994. From 1996 to 1998, he worked as General Manager of EDS' Energy and Communications Division. He joined Logica Group in 1998 as Chairman and CEO of the entities in France and Luxembourg. Two years later, he joined the Canal+ group (Vivendi Universal Group) as Chairman and CEO of CanalNumédia, and General Manager of Nusport. Philippe Bismut joined BNP Paribas in 2002, as CEO of Arval UK and Managing Director of Arval. In October 2006, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of BNP Paribas Lease Group. In March, 2010, he replaced Laurent Treca as Chairman of BNP Paribas Lease Group.

BNP Paribas Lease Group, far more than financing…

BNP Paribas Lease Group is the BNP Paribas subsidiary specialised in leasing and rental solutions for professional equipment and real estate assets, offered either directly to businesses and professionals or through its partners – manufacturers, distributors and software vendors.

With more than €31 billion of outstandings under management and 3,300 employees located worldwide, BNP Paribas Lease Group is the European leader in equipment leasing and is today the only financial institution with such a wide-ranging offer, extending from simple leasing arrangements to long term rental solutions and IT asset management contracts.

BNP Paribas Lease Group operates in 22 countries: directly in Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India (Financial Company with SREI), Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine ; through BNP Paribas Group entities in Algeria (El Djazaïr), Morocco (BMCI Leasing), Tunisia (UBCI Leasing), and USA (Trinity Vendor Finance).