BNP Paribas has signed an agreement to acquire a minority 33.4% stake in SLIB, the securities clearing operations of French bank Natixis. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SLIB specialises in providing securities services and offers its clients negotiation, clearing, settlement and custody services in France and abroad.
Commenting on the move Alain Pochet, head of banking operations for BNP Paribas' securities services division, says having SLIB as strategic partner "will enable us to expand our services range, particularly in the fields of back-office outsourcing to financial intermediaries and clearing risk management".
"This agreement also falls within the framework of the MiFID implementation and as such will adhere to the surrounding regulatory and operational challenges, a fact that will strengthen BNP Paribas' position among the main suppliers of clearing services in contact with the new multilateral trading platforms," adds Pochet.
In June, BNP Paribas Securities Services successfully processed and settled its first trades as a general clearing participant on the Instinet Chi-X ATS.