The banking and financial services group and the no.1 sponsor of world tennis, BNP Paribas, together with its Turkish subsidiary, TEB, will become the title sponsor of the prestigious “WTA Championships”. The WTA finale will be renamed the “TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships”.
Through this partnership agreement, Turkey will host the championships for the next three years in Istanbul, at the Sinan Erdem stadium where the world's top eight singles players and top four doubles teams will compete. Istanbul, the fifth-largest metropolis in the world, joins the prestigious list of cities that have hosted the WTA finale: Doha, Madrid, Munich, Los Angeles and New York.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement starting in 2011, BNP Paribas becomes the official bank of the WTA Championships through its Turkish subsidiary TEB. Both TEB and BNP Paribas will receive global exposure through on-court branding, and television and internet coverage, including all the promotional resources of the competition carried by the WTA's official publicity channels. The TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships will have their own visual identity, which will include the identities of the two partners incorporated into a dynamic logo with an appropriate female touch. The tournament will also count on TEB's competition at the local level to promote women's tennis among Turkish fans.
“By becoming the title sponsor of the WTA Championships in Istanbul, TEB is in line with the BNP Paribas Group's global sports sponsorship policy. As well as contributing to the local and international impact of this major sporting event we are enhancing brand awareness in Turkey where we are developing strong ambitions. By supporting women's tennis at the highest level, we are also promoting the values of excellence and self-challenge which are important to our Group. We look forward to sharing this outstanding event with the Turkish people, who will no doubt give a warm welcome to the elite of women's world tennis” says Varol Civil, Chief Executive Officer of TEB.
“We are thrilled to have TEB and BNP Paribas as title sponsor of our prime event in Istanbul for the next three years,” says Stacey Allaster, President and CEO of the WTA. “Our partnership with TEB and BNP Paribas is another example of the attraction of women's tennis among sponsors”.
TEB will draw on the recognised experience of BNP Paribas, which has fully integrated tennis into its brand strategy and which has built up much of its world reputation through its visibility in this sport. For nearly 40 years, the BNP Paribas Group has supported key events such as Roland Garros, the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, five ATP Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Rome, Shanghai and Paris), the international wheelchair tennis circuit and numerous junior and amateur competitions, helping to promote tennis in all its forms throughout the world.
BNP Paribas has one of the largest international financial services networks, with operations in 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees located throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Group's business in Turkey is also growing strongly, ranked among the top ten banks in Turkey, TEB employs close to 10,000 staff in its 600 branches, serving more than 3,000,000 individual clients.
About Türk Ekonomi Bankasý (TEB)
Türk Ekonomi Bankasý (TEB), a reputable and prestigious institution in the Turkish banking sector, was established in 1927. Since its establishment, TEB, with its expanded network of branches and a diversified range of products and services, pursues operating in various fields of the banking sector as investment, leasing, factoring and portfolio management. In February 2005, BNP Paribas, one of the top 10 most important banks in the world and the largest in the Euro zone, operating in 85 countries, became a partner of TEB which went public in February 2000. In the wake of its partnership with the BNP Paribas, Türk Ekonomi Bankasý carries its expertise in foreign trade, corporate, commercial and private banking over into the fields of retail banking and banking for small and medium-sized businesses. Following the merger between TEB and Fortis, New TEB embarked on its ‘New Life' starting on the 21st of March 2010, as Turkey's 6th largest private bank with an asset size of 31.2 billion TL and more than 10,000 employees. New TEB also has become Turkey's fifth private bank in terms of network coverage with more than 600 branches and 1,000 ATMs.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is one of the strongest banks in the world*. The Group has a presence in more than 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees, including more than 160,000 in Europe. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. 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 across the Europe-Mediterranean zone and boasts a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and solid and fast-growing businesses in Asia.
* Rated AA by Standard & Poor's i.e. 3rd rating level on a scale of 22.
BNP Paribas and Tennis
Long-standing partner to the sport of tennis since 1973, BNP Paribas is actively involved in the game at both local and international level, and in club, schools and social tennis as well as professional events. BNP Paribas has gradually become the number one sponsor in world tennis: official sponsor of Roland Garros since 1973 and sponsor of five ATP Masters 1000 events - the BNP Paribas Masters since 1986, Monte Carlo Masters since 2005, Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome since 2006, BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells since 2009 and the Shanghai Masters since 2010. The Group is also title sponsor of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas since 2001 and the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas since 2005, as well as being actively involved in many other international competitions including the Bank of the West Classic in California, the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, the Open 13 in Marseille and the BNP Paribas Showdown in New York. BNP Paribas is also an official partner of International Wheelchair Tennis, such as the the “BNP Paribas World Team Cup”. Through its support for more than 20 national tennis associations, 2000 clubs, 550 amateur tournaments, plus schools and social programmes around the world, BNP Paribas helps to promote tennis and encourage widespread participation in the game. The Group's commitment to social values is reflected in the sports sponsorships it has undertaken in numerous projects, including Yannick Noah's ‘Fête le Mur' Association and the tennis Téléthon in France, the Oberer Tennis Camp in Switzerland and the BNP Paribas ‘Taste of Tennis' in the United States. As part of its creative sports sponsorship policy, BNP Paribas is launching a website “ wearetennis.com “ entirely dedicated to tennis news. The Group's new sponsorship slogan ‘We are tennis' underlines the fact that BNP Paribas promotes tennis for all, at all levels.