BNP Paribas is exiting its U.S. retail business providing its expansion plans with a financial boost.
The French bank is selling its U.S. Bank of the West – for $16.3billion to Bank of Montreal, it said in a statement Monday as reported by the «Financial Times» (behind paywall).
With the sale proceeds BNP Paribas could be on the lookout to buy a smaller tech company, the British newspaper writes, citing analysts who added that no deal was imminent.
It will concentrate on expanding its business in Europe, the report says. In this context, an acquisition in Switzerland could also be an option.
Last month BNP Paribas spotted a deal with Credit Suisse: the Swiss lender, which suffered more than $5 billion in losses on Archegos' unwind earlier this year, offloaded its prime brokerage clients to its French counterpart.
