BNP Paribas is a French bank and the largest in the eurozone. Its corporate and institutional bank (CIB) has a big presence in London. In M&A it's smaller than the US banks, but in debt capital markets, financing and derivatives it's one of the biggest players in Europe.
Applying well to BNP Paribas
- Know which part you want. Most undergraduate places are in the CIB, split across global banking, markets and other divisions. A CV pitched at M&A sent to a derivatives desk reads wrong.
- French is a plus, not a requirement. London works in English, but there's a lot of contact with Paris. Business-level French earns its line on the CV. Basic French doesn't.
- "Why BNP and not a US bank?" Strength in European financing and markets is a real answer. So is working on deals with a European client base.
On the CV
The same structure as any bank, plus:
- Quantitative evidence if you're applying to markets: a trading competition, a maths or statistics module, a coding project with numbers.
- European experience or languages, written with specifics.