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BNP Paribas Announces Creation of Company Engagement department and Appointment of Nathalie Hartmann as Head of Compliance

Published On 03.07.2017

Appointment of Nathalie Hartmann as Head of Group Compliance

Nathalie Hartmann has been appointed Head of Compliance and member of the Executive Committee as of 1st October 2017. She will replace Eric Martin who is retiring after 42 years with the Group.

Nathalie Hartmann joined the Group in 1985 and has held various positions in Human Resources, the French retail network and Corporate & Institutional Banking. Over the last 3 years, she has made a significant contribution to the Compliance function and KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Over the last years, Eric Martin has deeply transformed the Compliance function, which is essential to BNP Paribas, and has enabled it to meet the highest standards of quality, doubling resources and bringing on board many talented people. I thank him warmly and express my gratitude for his exemplary commitment and his contribution to the success of BNP Paribas, which he will continue to serve as a director of several subsidiaries. I have great confidence in the ability of Nathalie Hartmann, who has already demonstrated a strong understanding of what is at stake, in continuing to develop the Compliance function within our 2020 plan”.

Creation of the Company Engagement department

BNP Paribas has decided to reach for a new milestone in terms of social and environmental engagement at all levels of its operations.

In line with its 2020 strategy, BNP Paribas creates a Company Engagement department that will be directly represented on the Group’s Executive Committee, as of 1st September 2017.

As a leading company, present in 74 countries and playing a central role in financing the economy, the commitments the bank makes have a decisive impact on future generations. 

This new department will work with all BNP Paribas business lines, in order to define and implement the company’s engagement strategy relating to key fields for the future of our society: economic development, the environment and energy transition; social inclusion and regional development; diversity and respect of human rights. It will deploy the necessary resources to ensure that all employees play an active role in this engagement strategy.

This new Company Engagement department will be headed by Antoine Sire, who rejoins BNP Paribas as a member of the Executive Committee, and by Bertrand Cizeau, Head of Group Communications who will be Deputy Director of this Company Engagement department in addition to his current role.

Laurence Pessez who has been the Group’s Head of CSR since 2010, will also join this new department. She brings a wealth of expertise and know-how which will enable the development and implementation of the Group’s engagement plan. Laurence will join the G100, the group of the leading 100 managers of the BNP Paribas Group.

An operational manager responsible for managing policies relating to the energy transition will be appointed in due course, reporting to Laurence Pessez.

Within Human Resources, Barbara Levéel, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, will also contribute to this engagement strategy with her team.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Over the past years, BNP Paribas has become one of the top-ranked banks by extra-financial rating agencies. Today’s social and environmental challenges require that our group contribute even more actively to sustainable growth. We have therefore made a decision to put in place a structure to support this ambition at all levels of the Group. In his functions at BNP Paribas from 1997 to 2013, Antoine Sire worked to strengthen the Group’s social commitments. With Bertrand Cizeau, Laurence Pessez, Barbara Levéel and their teams, he will have the ability to bring together all BNP Paribas’ forces, to implement an ambitious company engagement strategy and support the development of all business lines”.

About BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach. It has a presence in 74 countries, with more than 192,000 employees, including more than 146,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main activities: Domestic Markets and International Financial Services (whose retail-banking networks and financial services are covered by Retail Banking & Services) and Corporate & Institutional Banking, which serves two client franchises: corporate clients and institutional investors. The Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realise their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail-banking model in Mediterranean countries, in Turkey, in Eastern Europe and a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific.

Biographies

Nathalie Hartmann joined the bank in 1985, after graduating from HEC. She started her career at BNP Paribas in the Group’s Human Resources department and has held various positions in the French retail network and Corporate & Institutional Banking (first in Structured Finance then as Head of Portfolio Management). In September 2008, she became a member of the CIB Executive Committee. In October 2014, Nathalie Hartmann was appointed Head of the Remediation and Transformation Plan for Compliance, reporting to the Global Head of Compliance. In addition to these responsibilities, she was appointed Head of the KYC policies early 2015.

Antoine Sire graduated from IEP (Institut d’Etudes politiques) Paris and holds a degree in Public Law. He was Assistant to the Director for Communications and Regional Action of the French Association of Banks - now FBF - from 1992-1995, then Communications Director of the Confédération Nationale du Crédit Mutuel (1995-1997). For 16 years, he was Head of Group Communications for BNP Paribas, where he created the company’s new brand following the merger of BNP and Paribas, and developed its strong reputation.  He also played a key role in developing the brand’s international recognition and broadened its social commitments. For 13 years, he co-hosted BFM Business’s radio programme dedicated to new technologies called Atelier Numérique. In 2013, he left BNP Paribas to focus on a long-term personal project, writing a historical book on Hollywood’s Golden Age actresses, published in 2016. In parallel, and since 2015, he has been Partner at Havas’s Paris agency.

Bertrand Cizeau holds a DESS in International Financial Markets from Paris-Dauphine. In 1994, he began his career with Paribas in financial management, in charge of Analyst & Investor Relations. In 1998, he became Deputy General Manager of the photo agency GAMMA, enabling the company’s editorial and digital transformation. Bertrand then worked as Head of Brand, Communications and Advertising at Cetelem   (BNP Paribas Personal Finance) from 2001 to 2011 where he launched and developed a global strategy for the company’s Responsible Credit offering. In 2012, he became Deputy Head of Communications for BNP Paribas Group. Since 2013, he has been Head of Group Communications of BNP Paribas, and has been instrumental in leading the digital transformation of the BNP Paribas brand, today recognised in Europe as a leading brand on social media.

Laurence Pessez graduated from IEP (Institut d’Etudes politiques) Paris. She held management positions in the areas of communication, marketing and human resources in various sectors before joining BNP Paribas in 2002 as Communications Director for BNP Paribas Cardif. In 2006, she became Communications and Social Responsibility Director at BNP Paribas Cardif.  She has headed BNP Paribas’ CSR department since 2010. At her initiative, the bank joined the Corporate Knights’ “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” ranking, and in 2017, became the leading European bank for its performances relating to ‘responsibility’ according to the extra-financial rating agency Vigeo-Eiris. She is a Board Member of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations.

Barbara Levéel started her career at BNP Paribas in 2002 in Argentina. She has had a cross-disciplinary career within Corporate and Institutional banking, Inspection Générale and Procurement. Barbara Levéel is passionate about Latin America. She holds a Masters degree in this domain and has carried out humanitarian missions in this region. Graduated from the ESCP (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris), she also holds a bachelor degree in philosophy and sociology of enterprises. She was appointed Head of Diversity and Inclusion in October 2014.