The integration of BNP Paribas Fortis, the largely Belgian arm of French bank BNP Paribas, will lead to annual savings of €900 million by 2012, BNP said today.
The business will boost earnings as early as next year before restructuring costs, the bank said, adding the return on invested equity would be more than 20 per cent by 2012.
BNP Paribas took control of the Belgian banking arm of Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis, which was broken up over the past year. BNP Paribas Fortis employs 18,000 people in Belgium and 34,000 people worldwide.
"The integration project is going well. BNP Paribas Fortis businesses have stabilised asset flows and even gained inflows in retail banking," BNP said in a statement.
Reuters