BNP Paribas Securities Services Germany completes the integration of Commerzbank’s “depotbank” business

BNP Paribas Securities Services, one of the largest depositary banks in Europe, today announced that it completed the integration of Commerzbank’s depositary banking activities in November 2014.

The acquisition, which was announced in July 2013 and closed in November 2013, increased BNP Paribas Securities Services’ total assets under depositary in Germany by more than EUR 80bn. Open-ended real estate funds currently account for EUR 16.7bn of this total.

The assets in the funds were efficiently structured into 13 slots and were migrated to BNP Paribas over as many weekends commencing November last year. This necessitated a complete change of the depositary and accounting systems.

BNP Paribas Securities Services is the largest depositary bank in Germany and now has 350 employees in the country, of which 54 joined as a result of the acquisition. The acquisition enabled the bank to expand its UCITS business and establish a new service offering for real estate funds. BNP Paribas Securities Services now offers the full spectrum of depositary services for all asset classes and fund categories in Germany.

Separately, BNP Paribas Securities Services has now completed the migration of the Generali Group’s German institutional funds following the award of a European mandate announced in July 2014. This further increased BNP Paribas Securities Services assets under depositary in Germany by EUR 27.7bn to EUR 339bn.

BNP Paribas in Germany

The BNP Paribas Group has been present in Germany since 1947, where it is today one of the leading foreign banks. Its activities relate mainly to large German and international companies, large export-oriented SMEs, as well as to financial institutions and institutional investors. The product portfolio of the subsidiaries of BNP Paribas in Germany is geared towards both companies and individuals.

The customers of BNP Paribas benefit from local know-how combined with international expertise, as well as from the financial strength of a leading eurozone bank and its international network.

The Group employs approximately 4,000 people in Germany.