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BNP Paribas steps up development of its International integrated banking model

The International Retail Banking and Financial Services core business (IRFS) becomes BNP Paribas International Retail Services (IRS)and reinforces the integration of its businesses

In less than five years, IRFS has doubled in size, both in terms of the number of employees (from 29,000 to 71,000) and customers (28 million to more than 50 million*), while its Revenues have risen from 4.9 to 8 billion euros and its presence expanded to 60 countries. The unit's geographic balance has also changed, as fast-growing emerging markets represent a greater proportion of overall activities and the number of countries where all IRFS businesses operate has also increased.

As a growth engine for the Group and a spearhead for its international retail development, IRFS has begun a new chapter by adopting a new name, BNP Paribas International Retail Services, which expresses fresh strategic momentum and a more integrated organization.

Pierre Mariani, member of the executive committee and head of the IRS core business, explains: “BNP Paribas International Retail Services expresses our goal of expanding the deployment of BNP Paribas' integrated banking model. By combining the strengths of our three business lines, we aim to achieve our new objective: more than 70 million customers by 2010, including nearly 6 million new customers in our retail banking networks”.

The BNP Paribas International Retail Services core business is now organized around three business lines focused on delivering retail services:

- Branch Banking in the United States and emerging markets: The goal is to open 600 new branches by 2010 to bring the IRS network to a total of 3,400 branches, including 2,600 in emerging markets

- Personal Finance: consolidation of consumer lending and mortgage lending (Cetelem, UCB)

- Equipment Solutions: Arval, BNP Paribas Lease Group

With this new organization, the IRS core business has entered a new phase in the deployment of the integrated BNP Paribas model across all countries, with closer coordination between its branch banking networks and retail financial services focused on four objectives: expand the client franchise, systematically pursue cross-selling, deploy new sales models and strengthen operational efficiency.
BNP Paribas International Retail Services also intends to strengthen its leading positions in each of its businesses and to be recognized as a reference in its markets, thanks to customer satisfaction and the growth and profitability of its activities.

The goal of the IRS core business is to earn one third of its revenues in emerging markets by 2010, which would represent a major contribution to achieving BNP Paribas' objective to reach 15% of Group revenues in emerging markets through organic growth.

* More than 8 million customers in the retail banking networks, more than 20 million direct Personal Finance customers, more than 22 million customers managed by Personal Finance.

About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is a European leader in global banking and financial services and is one of the 4 strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's. The group is present in over 85 countries, with almost 163,000 employees, including near 127,000 in Europe. The group holds key positions in three major segments: Corporate and Investment Banking, Asset Management & Services and Retail Banking. Present throughout Europe in all of its business lines, the bank's two domestic markets in retail banking are France and Italy. BNP Paribas also has a significant presence in the United States and strong positions in Asia and the emerging markets.