BNP Paribas Appoints Bernard Digeon as Head of West Coast Region.

NEW YORK -- BNP Paribas is pleased to announce the appointment of Bernard Digeon as a Managing Director and head of the Western region. He is based in San Francisco and reports to Jean-Yves Fillion, head of US corporate coverage. E[acute accent]Bernard transfers to San Francisco from BNP Paribas in Sydney where he was head of corporate coverage for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, he spent two years at the International Bank of Southern Africa, a BNP Paribas affiliate, as Chief Executive Officer. Previously he worked for BNP Mexico and before that spent five years in China. Bernard has also held other positions at the firm such as; head of risk at BNP Hong Kong and also held the same position at BNP Panama. E[acute accent]Commenting on his appointment Jean Yves Fillion said, "Bernard brings outstanding knowledge of BNP Paribas to this role, he is an excellent addition to the team and I am confident that his contribution will enable us to further enhance our client coverage in this region."

E[acute accent]About BNP Paribas

E[acute accent]BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is a European leader in banking and financial services, with a significant and growing presence in the United States and leading positions in Asia. The most profitable bank in the Euro zone, it has a presence in 85 countries with close to 100,000 employees. The group enjoys key positions in Corporate and Investment Banking, Private Banking & Asset Management, Insurance, Securities Services and Retail Banking. E[acute accent]BNP Paribas provides a full array of financial products through a portfolio of brands that cover a variety of distribution channels. With offices in New York, BNP Paribas in North America offers a broad range of corporate, investment banking and securities brokerage activities. With locations in all the major corporate and financial centers across the United States and Canada, BNP Paribas in North America serves a world-class client base of multinational corporate and mid-cap companies, major issuers and institutional buyers. As a registered member of the NYSE, a NASD broker-dealer and member of SIPC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp. trades and markets a vast array of global and domestic fixed income and equity products.