Banque Nationale de Paris

Banque Nationale de Paris was a major French bank. It was formed in 1966 through the merger of Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CNEP, est. 1848) and Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie (est. 1932). In 1999, it merged with Paribas to form BNP Paribas.

Overview
In 1966, the French government decided to merge Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris with Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie to create BNP.

In 1990, BNP entered into an alliance with Dresdner Bank and supported a joint venture with Dresdner Bank to enter the Russia market supporting a Dresdner Bank branch in Saint Petersburg with Vladimir Putin's close friend Mathias Warnig as its chairman. This alliance to enter the Eastern European markets continued until December 2000.

The bank was re-privatised in 1993 under the leadership of Michel Pébereau as part of a second Chirac government's privatization policy.