BNP Paribas Boosts Its Equity and Derivatives Business in New York with the Appointment of Six Professionals.

NEW YORK -- BNP Paribas is pleased to announce the appointments of six traders to its Equity and Derivatives QUEST (Quantitative Electronic Strategic Trading) business in New York. Timothy Egan and Alidad Mireskandari join as Managing Directors, David Nikodem and Glenn Waldorf join as Directors and Keith Lillis and Robert McHugh join as Vice Presidents. They are based in New York and report to Kyle Rusconi, Managing Director and head of QUEST, North America.

Tim Egan joins the firm from Nomura Securities in New York where he was a Managing Director and proprietary trader since 2002. Prior to that, he spent six years as head trader for Latin America.

Alidad Mireskandari also joins from Nomura Securities where he worked as a Director and proprietary trader since 2002. Prior to that, he worked at Orbitex.

David Nikodem joins from Blumberg Capital Management where he worked since 2002. Prior to that, he worked at Acacia Research Investment Corporation and before that at Orbitex Management Inc.

Glenn Waldorf also comes from Nomura Securities where he worked in proprietary equity trading for two years. Previously he worked at UBS Warburg and also at Bear Stearns.

Keith Lillis and Robert McHugh also join the team from Nomura Securities. Keith Lillis was a senior trader in their proprietary equity strategies since 2003. Before that he spent three years at Fleet Trading as an OTC market maker.

Robert McHugh spent the last five years at Nomura Securities as a trader in various roles including: head trader fundamental long/short, trader in European relative value and a trader in Latin American relative value.

Commenting on the appointments, Yann Gerardin, global head of equities and derivatives said, "BNP Paribas is a world leader in equity derivatives, which is why we can attract such high caliber people. We enjoy a strong and successful business globally and will continue to grow in the U.S. with further appointments throughout the business."

About BNP Paribas

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.

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 NYSE member, 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.