BNP Paribas now has access to a significant share of the structured retail products market in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, following its takeover of the main Belgian banking and insurance operations of Fortis. The deal was brokered by the Belgian government, following the nationalisation of the group’s Dutch business. The Belgian retail market is not only highly concentrated, but Europe’s richest country by financial assets per capita.SRP’s extensive database shows other potential synergies and complementarities between the two organisations. The French bank has de facto significantly extended its international coverage, both within and beyond Europe, in line with its stated mission to become one Europe’s largest deposit banks.
BNP Paribas issued 19 retail structured products in France worth €2.27bn in 2007 and 18 worth €2.16bn in 2008. Fortis’s retail structured products businesses in Belgium and Luxembourg launched 117 products worth €5.01bn in 2007 and 71 worth €2.02bn so far in 2008.
BNP Paribas has directly issued 121 structured retail products worth €15.6bn in France since the start of our databases. Fortis has launched 687 structured retail products worth €29.58bn in Belgium and Luxembourg since our databases began.
BNP Paribas already has an international remit. It launched over 19,000 structured retail products outside France in 2007 and a similar number this year, of which over 98% in each year were German products (largely bonus certificates). Other BNP Paribas launches were in Belgium, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Fortis launched 125 structured retail products outside its home markets in 2007, of which 22 (worth €110m) were Dutch. This year, it has launched a similar number (127), of which 18 were Dutch worth €270m. Other Fortis launches have been in Austria, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan and the USA.
BNP Paribas and Fortis structured retail products are mostly wrapped as funds. Eighty-seven percent of BNP Paribas’ products striking in France last year were funds and 13% MTNs, in comparison with 83% and 17%, respectively, of 2008’s products.
Equally, 93% of Fortis’s products striking in 2007 in Belgium and Luxembourg are fund based, 4% are MTNs and 3% insurance products, in comparison with 83%, 10%, and 6% respectively, this year, when 1% of products were structured as bonds.
BNP Paribas’ average sales volume per product was €119.43m in 2007 and €119.51m in 2008. Fortis’s sales volume per product was €42.88m in 2007 and €28.49m in 2008. These figures reflect the different market approaches in the home countries: French products tend to focus on single large launches, while Belgians tend to repeat tranches. Equally, thematic products are more important for Fortis and the Belgian market in general, whereas BNP Paribas and the French market tend to focus more on payoffs.
