BNP Paribas Announces Major Recruitment in Corporate Bond Business.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000

BNP Paribas announced today the recruitment of nine senior professionals to its U.S. Corporate Bond business in New York, adding to its research, trading, and sales teams in this area.

The expansion of this business follows the recent appointment of David Fergione as Head of BNP Paribas' High Grade Corporate Bond business in New York.

Joe Labriola joins High Grade Corporate Bond Research and will co-head the research team together with BNP Paribas' current Research head, Dan Scotto, both of whom report to Fergione. Labriola joins from PaineWebber, where he was the senior bank and finance analyst and was in charge of the Corporate Bond Research Group. Mr. Labriola is a member of the Fixed Income Analysts Society and was a past Vice President and board member of the organization. Prior to his position at PaineWebber, Labriola was at Deutsche Bank and Kidder Peabody, and before that at Standard & Poor's Corp.

Also joining the BNP Paribas High Grade Research team is Ricardo Kleinbaum, a Yankee bond analyst. Kleinbaum also joins BNP Paribas from PaineWebber. Prior to this, Kleinbaum was with Deutsche Bank and Fitch Investor Service.

With these additions to its professional staff, BNP Paribas will have research coverage encompassing all major sectors of high grade credit.

Jim Switzer joins the BNP Paribas corporate bond trading unit as Head of High Grade Trading, also reporting to Fergione. He brings 15 years trading experience to this role. Switzer joins from PaineWebber, where he headed the finance and high grade corporate bond trading area. Prior to that he was with Kidder Peabody. Also joining Switzer on the trading desk of BNP Paribas are Blair Potter, who trades corporate bonds in the telephone and utility sector, and Jim Bolger, a Yankee bond trader. Potter has been with PaineWebber since 1982. Bolger was also with PaineWebber and prior to that Prudential.

Joining the sales team of BNP Paribas are August Wolf, Ron Deutsch, Charles Heckleman, and John Cahill, all from PaineWebber. These new members of the BNP Paribas sales team are senior professionals with significant experience in the corporate bond markets. Wolf was with Deutsche and Kidder Peabody prior to PaineWebber. Deutsch worked previously at Bear Stearns and Prudential. Heckleman was at DLJ and CSFirst Boston until early this year. John Cahill had worked at PaineWebber since 1984.

"This recruitment represents another significant step in fulfilling our objective of creating full capability in U.S. credit products, a necessary reinforcement of our global Fixed Income business," noted David Brunner, chief executive of BNP Paribas' securities activities in New York. "A U.S. high grade corporate bond business gives us the ability to provide a full range of domestic and global financing alternatives to our existing corporate clients. For investors, we now offer a full range of U.S. bond products, including Governments and Agencies, High Grade, High Yield, and Emerging Markets."

Jacques d'Estais, Global Head of Fixed Income for BNP Paribas in London, added, "A significant position in the U.S. is central to our objective of remaining among the leading European firms involved in global fixed income markets. This U.S. expansion builds upon BNP Paribas' historic position as one of the leading firms in the Eurobond markets."

BNP Paribas has offices in 83 countries, a staff of over 77,000 employees, and operates in the world's seven largest financial centers. BNP Paribas is divided into six core businesses: corporate and investment banking; domestic retail banking; international retail banking; specialized financial services; private banking, asset management, securities services, insurance and real estate; and Paribas Capital. With assets of almost 700 billion Euro as of December 31, 1999, BNP Paribas is one of the world's largest financial institutions.

In the U.S., BNP Paribas conducts certain capital markets activities through BNP Paribas Securities Corp., a U.S. registered broker/dealer and member of SIPC.