BNP Paribas Wouldn't Be Interested in Commerzbank, Chairman Says

(Bloomberg) -- BNP Paribas SA wouldn’t be interested in buying Germany’s Commerzbank AG if it was asked to look into it, Chairman Jean Lemierre said.

While there’s a need for Europe’s banking sector to restructure, cross-border consolidation remains difficult in the region, Lemierre, 68, said in a Bloomberg Television interview from London Monday.

“I would say no” on a hypothetical Commerzbank deal, the chairman said. “We have shareholders, I think they would say no.”

It’s the first time that the French bank spelled out its views on the German rival after last month’s collapse of merger talks between Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank AG. Some European rivals, led by ING Groep NV and UniCredit SpA, have signaled interest, people familiar with the matter have said. Both banks already have significant business in Germany.

BNP Paribas had reiterated this month that its focus remained on investing in its digital transformation, rather than pursue deals. In Germany, the French bank plans to continue growing the market share of its local entities, Lemierre said.

“It is not easy to reach the conditions that a merger can be done,” Lemierre said.

Lemierre also reiterated BNP Paribas’ commitment to its equity-trading operations, despite difficult market conditions. There’s a “lack of predictability” caused by by geopolitical events, the chairman said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fabiobv@bloomberg.net;Guy Johnson in London at gjohnson87@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Christian Baumgaertel, Keith Campbell

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