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BNP Paribas announces the hires of four new analysts to European High Grade Credit Research

BNP Paribas is pleased to announce the hires of Ian Centis, Francois Lauras, Vivek Tawadey and Jean-Yves Coupin to its European High Grade Credit Research team. All four will be based in London and report to Rick Deutsch, Head of European High Grade Credit Research.

Ian Centis, 34, will be a senior analyst covering Southern European and Scandinavian Banks, and he joins from Chase where he spent the last 18 months responsible for credit and relative value research of banks in Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and the Czech Republic. Prior to that he spent 3 years at Nomura where he was primarily responsible for bank counterparty credit and due diligence on banks. Before that he spent two years at Fitch IBCA where he was responsible for the analysis and rating of Italian and Irish banks. Ian started his career in 1986 in equity warrant and equity sales first at Daiwa, then at Warburg Securities. He holds a BA (Hons) degree in Politics and Economics from Durham University.

Francois Lauras, 40, will be a senior analyst covering the services and consumer sectors. He joins from Deutsche Bank where, since 1996, he was a Vice President and a senior credit analyst, in the Global Credit Research department, covering European high-grade industrials (chemicals, oil & gas, transportation) and UK Utilities. Prior to that he spent 3 years as an Associate Director in the Credit Research department at Bear Stearns. Before that he spent 3 years at Chemical Bank as an Assistant VP and credit analyst in the Specialised Industries Group. Francois started his career in 1988 in the Corporate Finance department of Mitsubishi. He holds a degree from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.

Vivek Tawadey, 42, will be a senior analyst covering industrials, and he joins from ABN AMRO where he was Head of Corporate Bond Research and Ratings Advisory. In this role he built and managed the corporate bond research team in Europe covering the industrial, financial and sovereign sectors. Prior to that he spent 2 years as Head of Fixed Income Credit Research at Nomura Intl. Plc. He started his career in 1986 in the Corporate and Investment bank of First National Bank of Chicago. Vivek holds an MBA from INSEAD, France.

Jean-Yves Coupin, 31, will join as an analyst assisting with corporate research and credit strategy, and he joins from Credit Lyonnais where he has worked since 1994, most recently as a buy side Fixed Income Credit Analyst in the asset management business. In this role he covered telecom, retail, tobacco, consumer, specialty finance and insurance. He has a degree in Business Administration from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Toulouse and a Masters in Corporate Finance from Lyon Graduate School of Business.

Commenting on these appointments, Rick Deutsch, no 2 ranked European Credit Research analyst in Institutional Investor's 1999 poll, said, "We are now positioned to be one of the premier credit research teams in Europe, committed to providing added value to our clients and the Fixed Income business."