BNP Opening Colombia Bank in April

BNP Paribas plans to officially open a bank in Colombia in April, the French bank’s head of LatAm Louis Bazire tells LatinFinance. A banking license is required to trade the Colombian peso, which BNP will do along with offering FX swaps and derivatives. BNP will use the opening to sound out a possible strategy for lending to local companies in pesos. Bazire says BNP will need to have confidence in the currency before considering lending long term in pesos. He adds that Colombia is a good investment opportunity and does not view it as overbanked. “Our timing is good,” says Bazire. BNP already has 40 people in its Colombia rep office. It offers wholesale finance and specialized retail products like consumer credit and insurance. The Colombia bank is part of a number of regional initiatives planned for this year. “We’re growing our platform everywhere,” says the senior banker. Bazire says BNP plans to open a Brazil equity brokerage as a stepping stone towards a primary equity business. And in Mexico, the bank is starting a Sofom to gain access to the peso market. Bazire notes that LatAm and Asia are the fastest growing parts of the bank, though he concedes that the region still yields just 3% of global revenue. BNP aims to double LatAm revenue by 2013, says the banker.