BNP Paribas shuts down wealth management business in India

Mumbai: BNP Paribas Wealth Management has shut down its wealth management business in India, the company confirmed on Tuesday, but denied that the decision was impacted by the current coronavirus pandemic.

“BNP Paribas Wealth Management has decided to exit its onshore wealth management business in India in order to focus on areas where its global footprint and diversified business strengths allow it to provide clients with more value-added services,” a BNP Paribas spokeswoman said in a response to a query.

“This decision is unrelated to the current pandemic and has no impact on our continued wealth management growth strategy in Asia, which remains an important growth engine for our global franchise,” she added.

Meanwhile, sources in the know indicated that around 60 employees may have lost their jobs in the process.

“We can confirm that a number of roles will be affected. As we are currently looking for redeployment opportunities within the group, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” the spokesperson said.

BNP Paribas said the wealth management clients will be referred when appropriate to Sharekhan, BNP Paribas’ wholly-owned subsidiary, for brokerage and investment services for individual clients.

BNP Paribas said it continues to focus on growth of its corporate & institutional banking in India and has injected nearly €800 million in capital since 2012 to support its India growth aspirations.

The company is setting up an asset management JV with Bank of Baroda to distribute mutual funds in India and abroad. Sharekhan is also foraying into the discount brokering category via a new subsidiary company.