BNP Paribas SA will buy the Luxembourg-based wealth-management and insurance business of ABN Amro Group NV as the French lender boosts its private-banking assets in Europe.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and should be finalised by the third quarter, the two banks said in a statement yesterday. Bloomberg earlier reported that ABN Amro had approached potential buyers for the unit.
“This acquisition is part of our strategy of growth and will enable us to strengthen our role as a growing player, not just in Luxembourg, but in the expanding worldwide wealth market,” Vincent Lecomte, co-chief executive officer of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, said in the statement.
The deal follows Nordea Bank AB’s sale of its Luxembourg wealth business to UBS Group AG last month as European banks focus on their core markets, pulling out of areas where they lack sufficient scale. ABN Amro didn’t consider it had enough chances to expand in Luxembourg, and concluded that a sale to BNP Paribas was in the best interest of clients, Pieter van Mierlo, the Dutch bank’s private-banking CEO, said in the statement.
ABN Amro will now focus on investing in and integrating its existing wealth-management business, he said.