bnp paribas
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/2022/11/04/wilful-ignorance-indigenous-delegation-incredulous-at-bankers-attitude-to-fossil-fuel-impacts/">https://www.desmog.com/2022/11/04/wilful-ignorance-indigenous-delegation-incredulous-at-bankers-attitude-to-fossil-fuel-impacts/</a></font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Indigenous delegates said they had been amazed at the “wilful ignorance” they encountered when demanding global banks cease financing new fossil fuel projects on their ancestral lands in what is today North America.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The representatives of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and the Nahua nation in Mexico met with executives from <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">HSBC, Barclays, and Credit Suisse in London </span>this week to urge them to stop backing oil and gas pipelines and fracked gas export terminals. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christopher Basaldú, a member of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe, said he had been appalled at the lack of awareness of the <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2015/06/04/epa-study-fracking-contaminates-water-supplies/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">pollution caused by fracking</a> — a high-pressure drilling technique that has revolutionised America’s energy industry, but caused huge environmental damage. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I had to give a fracking 101 lesson to this bank official. It’s appalling their level of ignorance. They really do not know how potentially permanently destructive fracking is to groundwater,” Basaldú told DeSmog. “It’s incomprehensible to me that these wealthy, privileged, European people can be so wilfully ignorant and draw such tremendous salaries.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fracking works by using contained explosions and a mix of water, sand, and chemicals to fragment oil and gas-bearing layers of shale rock. The technique can taint groundwater, degrade landscapes and threaten wildlife, according to <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/news/article/truth-about-fracking-and-environment" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">environmental organisations</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, fracking sites release a toxic stew of air pollution that can cause severe headaches, asthma symptoms, childhood leukemia, cardiac problems, and birth defects, and some of the 1,000-plus chemicals used in the process are known to cause cancer, according to a <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/issues/reduce-fracking-health-hazards#::text=Fracking%20sites%20release%20a%20toxic,are%20known%20to%20cause%20cancer" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">report</a> by the National Resources Defense Council. </font></p><h2 id="h-fossil-fight" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fossil Fight</font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Basaldú is fighting plans by Houston-based oil and gas company NextDecade to build a $10 billion facility on the South Texas coast near his hometown of Brownsville. The scheme would supercool fracked gas from the Permian Basin for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Community members say the Central Park-sized project — known as<b> Rio Grande LNG </b>— would blanket low-income Latinx and Indigenous communities with harmful air pollution, cause irreversible harm to precious wetlands, threaten endangered wildlife, and accelerate climate breakdown via its associated carbon emissions. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The future of Rio Grande LNG and other planned export terminals had looked <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2020/10/08/cameron-lng-export-terminals-financials/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">looked increasingly in doubt</a> as demand for energy slumped during the COVID-19 pandemic. In November, 2020, French utility Engie dealt the sector a further blow when it pulled out of negotiations over a long-term deal to buy LNG cargoes from Rio Grande LNG amid reports that the French government was concerned over <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2021/04/26/fossil-fuel-companies-promoting-lower-carbon-responsibly-sourced-oil-and-gas/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">methane emissions</a> from the Permian Basin.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the picture has since changed dramatically as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered a European scramble for alternatives to Russian gas — bringing once moribund projects back to life. In May, NextDecade <a href="https://investors.next-decade.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nextdecade-and-engie-execute-175-mtpa-lng-sale-and-purchase" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">announced</a> that Engie had returned to the negotiating table and signed a 15-year contract to buy cargoes from Rio Grande LNG starting as early as 2026. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The project took another step forward in September, when Credit Suisse helped NextDecade launch a private share placement in anticipation of a final investment decision, Offshore Energy <a href="https://www.offshore-energy.biz/nextdecade-launches-private-placement-eyeing-rio-grande-lng-fid/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">reported</a>. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Barclays and HSBC are linked to the scheme through their role as big financiers of oil majors ExxonMobil and Shell, </b>which have also signed contracts to purchase shipments from Rio Grande LNG, according to a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/2022-10/RGV_LNG_2022_FINAL_WEB_0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">report</a> by the Sierra Club and allied organisations. The two banks also have smaller exposures to Engie, according to <a href="https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Banking on Climate Chaos</a>, a report by advocacy groups.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barclays, HSBC and Credit Suisse declined to comment. </font></p><h2 id="h-indigenous-resistance" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indigenous Resistance</font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Basaldú made the trip to London with Bekah Hinojosa, an artist and community organiser who has also been campaigning against Rio Grande LNG since the project was proposed eight years ago, and serves as the Sierra Club’s Gulf Coast campaign representative. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The pair were accompanied by Oliveria Montès Lazcano, the coordinator of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples in the central Mexican state of Puebla. Lazcano is fighting TransCanada’s project to build the <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2018/01/02/mexico-standing-rock-sempra-transcanada-indigenous-resistance/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Tuxpan-Tula pipeline</a> to import gas to central Mexico from Texas. HSBC, Credit Suisse, and Barclays finance TransCanada, campaigners say.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Indigenous networks have been mobilising increasingly effective opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure in recent years, playing key roles in the defeat of flagship projects in North America including the <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2021/01/20/keystone-xl-pipeline-canceled-biden-future-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Keystone XL tar sands pipeline</a> and the Atlantic Coast gas pipeline.</span> </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A report by the Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2021/09/08/indigenous-climate-resistance-stopping-fossil-fuels-line-3-emissions-report/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">published last year</a> found that Indigenous communities resisting more than 20 fossil fuel projects analysed had stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least 25 percent of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the world’s 60 largest private banks extending $4.6 trillion of finance for fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, according to <a href="https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">Banking on Climate Chaos</a>, indigenous groups are increasingly seeking to persuade bankers to pull the plug on polluting projects.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 2017 French Bank BNP Paribas pledged to stop granting dedicated financial support </b>for fracked gas pipelines and export terminals in North America several months after a previous delegation of Indigenous leaders from South Texas visited Paris and gained significant attention, speaking on radio shows and at rallies and shareholder meetings. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Indigenous groups from Ecuador and Peru scored further concessions in 2021 by persuading BNP Paribas,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Credit Suisse, ING, and other European banks</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> to stop financing the export of crude oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon after advocacy groups Stand.earth and Amazon Watch </span><a href="https://www.stand.earth/latest/new-report-reveals-european-banks-financing-trade-controversial-amazon-oil-us" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">published data</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> revealing their multi-billion dollar exposure to the trade. </span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">1119 DN</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px">There are markets that are sustaining these actors, these logging mafias, the worst actors in Brazil’s agribusiness sector, that are exporting commodities to the North. We are buying these products; we are complicit in what’s happening today. And our financial institutions, institutions like</span><b style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"> JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock, <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BNP</span> Paribas, Santander in Spain, are fueling this crisis with their money to the worst actors in the soy, in the beef and in the timber industries,</b><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"> for example, that are decimating the Amazon and its peoples today. We have a responsibility in the North.</span></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">wapo no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/big-money-urges-governments-to-tackle-climate-change/2019/09/19/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/big-money-urges-governments-to-tackle-climate-change/2019/09/19/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Big money urges governments to tackle climate change</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Frank Jordans?|?AP </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">September 18, 2019 at 9:50 p.m. PDT</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>A group of more than 500 major institutional investors called Thursday for governments to boost efforts to tackle climate change, warning that failure could have serious economic consequences.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">The banks, insurance companies and pension funds said in a joint statement ahead of next week’s U.N. climate summit in New York that current national commitments could lead to an “unacceptably high temperature increase that would cause substantial negative economic impacts.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The group includes financial giants such as France’s Amundi, which manages 1.487 trillion euros ($1.64 trillion); Canada-based Manulife; and Insight Investment in the United States.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Countries that signed the 2015 Paris climate accord have committed to keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally aiming for an increase of no more than 1.5C (2.7F) by the end of the century compared with pre-industrial times.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the investment firms, which together say they manage $35 trillion in assets, cited a gap between the modest steps pledged by governments — which in themselves fall short of what’s needed to meet the Paris goals — and actual measures taken so far.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“This ambition gap is of great concern to investors and needs to be addressed, with urgency,” the companies said. “It is vital for our long-term planning and asset allocation decisions that governments work closely with investors to incorporate Paris-aligned climate scenarios into their policy frameworks and energy transition pathways.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The investors want governments to speed up the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, back rules requiring companies to report climate-related information in their financial statements and put a meaningful price on carbon emissions.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Institutional investors have become increasingly vocal about the need to confront climate change lately.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>In a separate investor-backed study released Wednesday, the London-based Transition Pathway Initiative said none of the world’s top 50 oil and gas companies are in line with the Paris goal of capping global warming at 2C</b>. By contrast, the researchers found that about 20% of the 59 electric utility companies examine are aligned with that target.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The majority of companies have yet to establish their 2030 emission reduction targets, let alone set a longer-term vision for their carbon emissions,” said Helena Viñes Fiestas, global head of stewardship and policy at France’s </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">BNP Paribas Asset Management, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">one of the investment firms behind the report.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> “We, as a major institutional investor, are concerned that transition risk — the large and growing gap between government targets and company ambitions — is a major source of investment risk.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For more Associated Press stories about climate change, go to https://www.apnews.com/Climate</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/banks-tar-sands-paris-agreement-2505848938.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/banks-tar-sands-paris-agreement-2505848938.html</font></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the start of next week, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the U.N.'s negotiating body on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a>, will meet in Germany to discuss next steps after the historic agreement by 195 countries to curb global climate change to 1.5° Celsius, or 2° at most—an agreement whose <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2016/09/22/the-skys-limit-report/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">only logical conclusion</a> is that the world cannot afford expansion of the fossil fuel industry.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Various players in the financial industry have talked a big game on their commitments to the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Paris agreement</a>. But their business practices prove otherwise.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>According to the new report <a href="https://www.ran.org/fundingtarsands" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Funding Tar Sands: Private Banks vs. the Paris Climate Agreement</a>, in the first three quarters of 2017, major international banks have financed the extraction and transportation of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tar sands</a> at levels one and a half times higher than in the whole of 2016.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How can it be that in the last nine months, $32 billion has gone to an extreme fossil fuel whose development is flatly incompatible with meeting the goals of the Paris agreement?</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moreover, banks continue to stand behind their clients whose proposed tar sands projects, from Teck Resources' Frontier open-pit mine, to Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline, would further damn our climate and infringe upon indigenous rights.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> announced he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris agreement, he drew a line: the Paris agreement's goal of limiting climate change to 1.5°C on one side, and his administration on the other.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On what side of the line do banks fall? Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said, "I <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/02/jpmorgan-ceo-dimon-disagrees-with-trumps-decision-to-withdraw-from-climate-deal.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">absolutely disagree</a> with the administration on this issue." And yet, JPMorgan Chase has increased its financing for tar sands this year, banking on major companies as they acquire new tar sands assets. Meanwhile, the bank's policy grade comes in at a disappointing D+. JPMorgan Chase's actions declare its support not for the Paris agreement and the world's desperate need to stymie climate change, but rather for the Trump administration's pro-fossil fuel agenda.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Financial institutions have shown that they are able to make significant steps toward aligning their businesses with the goals of the Paris agreement. Three weeks ago,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">BNP Paribas </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">published a new policy restricting its financing for tar sands oil,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> among other extreme fossil fuels, in a move that the Wall Street Journal called "</span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bnp-paribas-to-stop-financing-shale-oil-sands-projects-1507730419" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">one of the clearest signs</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> yet the banking industry is re-evaluating its relationship with the oil sector."</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's a relationship that direly needs reevaluation. Banks can't keep funding business as usual expansion of fossil fuels, especially when it comes to the carbon bomb that is the tar sands.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Like it or not, we can't meet the goals of the Paris agreement without the financial industry on board, especially as governments like Trump's loosen the reins on the fossil fuel industry. Banks must take the immediate step of exiting the tar sands sector. Independent of governments, these major multinational institutions must say they're on board with the Paris agreement—and then prove it.</font></p><p align="left" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11114" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June 1994, in the midst of an arms embargo against Rwanda, <span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11115" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">one of the biggest banks in the world -- BNP Paribas</span> <span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">--</span> accepted a request made by the National Bank of Rwanda.</font></p><p dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11112" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By doing so, it<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11113" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"> may have transferred funds that helped war criminals buy the weapons that were used in the Rwandan genocide</span>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11091" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Without the crucial funds transfer that BNP authorized, <span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11090" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">80 tons of weapons would probably never have been delivered to Rwanda and would consequently not have been used to perpetrate the genocide</span> of 800,000 Tutsis, many of whom were women and children.</font></p><p dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1498692517938_11091" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">foreign exchange scam fine</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/economic-update-june-2-2017/">https://kpfa.org/episode/economic-update-june-2-2017/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4" /><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman">With less than one week before the Paris climate talks (COP21), Corporate Accountability International (CAI) released a report</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="">exposing the “filthy” track record of some of the corporations sponsoring the talks.</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">The report, Fueling the Fire: The corporate sponsors bankrolling COP21, uncovers “the green veil of four of the meeting’s dirtiest</div><div style="">sponsors,” including <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">fossil fuel conglomerates<b> Engie (formerly GDF Suez), Suez Environment, BNP Paribas and French utility</b></span></div><div style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Électricité de France (EDF).</b></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">The organization argues that there is an inherent conflict of interest between the stated aims of the UN climate process and many</div><div style="">of COP21’s corporate sponsors given their roles as global carbon polluters.</div><div style="">=</div><div style="">wiki</div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><b>BNP Paribas</b> (<small style="">French pronunciation: </small><span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_French" title="Help:IPA for French" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none !important;">[be ɛn pe paʁibɑ]</a></span>) is an international banking group with a presence in 75 countries. It is listed on the First Market of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euronext_Paris" title="Euronext Paris" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Euronext Paris</a> and is included in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_40" title="CAC 40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">CAC 40 index</a>. At 31 December 2016, net income attributable to equity holders was EUR7,702 million.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">BNP Paribas is one of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_banks" title="List of largest banks" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">largest banks in the world</a>. The bank serves more than 30 million customers between its retail banking networks in its four domestic markets, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France" title="France" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">France</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium" title="Belgium" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Belgium</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy" title="Italy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Italy</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg" title="Luxembourg" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Luxembourg</a>, through several brands such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNL(bank)" class="mw-redirect" title="BNL (bank)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">BNL</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGL_BNP_Paribas" title="BGL BNP Paribas" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">BGL BNP Paribas</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas_Fortis" title="BNP Paribas Fortis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">BNP Paribas Fortis</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">The retail bank also operates in the Mediterranean region and in the west of the United States.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">It was formed through the merger of <b>Banque Nationale de Paris</b> (BNP) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paribas" title="Paribas" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Paribas</a> (see below for name origin) in 2000. The company is a component of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_Stoxx_50" title="Euro Stoxx 50" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Euro Stoxx 50</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market_index" title="Stock market index" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">stock market index</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">Its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services businesses for corporate and institutional clients are leaders in Europe, significant players in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas" title="Americas" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americas</a> and growing strongly in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific" title="Asia-Pacific" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Asia-Pacific</a> region.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">BNP Paribas has the highest brand value in France. Its brand value increased EUR590 million to reach EUR14.7 billion in 2015.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">BNP Paribas was the 2nd <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_banks" title="List of largest banks" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">leading bank</a> in the euro zone in 2016 and ranked 5th internationally.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;" /><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div id="toctitle" class="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="background: none; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline; line-height: 1.3;">Contents</h2> <span class="toctoggle" style="user-select: none;"> [<a role="button" tabindex="0" class="togglelink" style="background: none; cursor: pointer;">hide</a>] </span></div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#History" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">History</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Name_in_brief" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Name in brief</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Background_and_heritage_as_four_banks:1820.E2.80.932000" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Background and heritage as four banks: 1820–2000</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#BNP.28Banque_Nationale_de_Paris.29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1.2.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris)</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Paribas.28Banque_de_Paris_et_des_Pays-Bas.29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1.2.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Paribas (Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas)</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Founding_of_BNP_Paribas_till_date:2000.E2.80.93present" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Founding of BNP Paribas till date: 2000–present</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Corporate_Identity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Corporate Identity</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Business_units" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Business units</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Retail_banking" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Retail banking</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Domestic_markets" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3.1.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Domestic markets</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#United_States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3.1.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">United States</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Emerging_markets" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3.1.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Emerging markets</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Corporate_and_Institutional_Banking" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Corporate and Institutional Banking</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Investment_solutions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Investment solutions</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Events_in_2005" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Events in 2005</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Major_shareholders" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Major shareholders</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Main_subsidiaries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Main subsidiaries</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Retail_banking_2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.2.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Retail banking</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Other_subsidiaries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.2.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Other subsidiaries</span></a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Controversies</span></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Check_processing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Check processing</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Nuclear_investments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Nuclear investments</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Sanctions_violations" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Sanctions violations</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#152_Million_Erroneous_Trade_case" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">152 Million Erroneous Trade case</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Sponsorship" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Sponsorship</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Corporate_philanthropy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">7</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Corporate philanthropy</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Notable_current_and_former_employees" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">8</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Notable current and former employees</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">9</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">See also</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-29" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">10</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-30" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">11</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External links</span></a></li></ul></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;" /><h2 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height"><span class="mw-headline" id="History">History</span></h2></div><div style=""><span class="mw-headline"><h2 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height"><span class="mw-headline" id="Controversies">Controversies</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BNP_Paribas&action=edit§ion=20" title="Edit section: Controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></h2><h3 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Check_processing">Check processing</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BNP_Paribas&action=edit§ion=21" title="Edit section: Check processing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">In 2010 the French government's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorit%C3%A9_de_la_concurrence" title="Autorité de la concurrence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Autorité de la concurrence</a> fined BNP and 10 other banks €384 million for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_check_processing_fee_controversy_of_2010" title="French check processing fee controversy of 2010" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">colluding to charge unjustified fees on check processing</a>, including extra fees during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[34]</a></sup> On 19 January 2011 BNP sued Russian grain trader, OOO Rosinteragroservis, and its subsidiary OAO Kubankhlebprodukt, claiming US$20 million in debts and penalties.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[35]</a></sup></p><h3 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Nuclear_investments">Nuclear investments</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BNP_Paribas&action=edit§ion=22" title="Edit section: Nuclear investments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">BNP Paribas is the biggest investor in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power" title="Nuclear power" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">nuclear sector</a> as a bank, according to Profundo, with more than €13.5 billion in nuclear investments. On 23 October 2011 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Greenpeace</a> organised a protest against BNP Paribas in 24 French cities.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[36]</a></sup></p><h3 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Sanctions_violations">Sanctions violations</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BNP_Paribas&action=edit§ion=23" title="Edit section: Sanctions violations" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">On 30 May 2014, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal" title="The Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Wall Street Journal</a></i> reported that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Department of Justice</a> was negotiating a possible guilty plea with BNP Paribas as well as the size of the resulting fine for violating U.S. regulations and evading US sanctions. The Justice Department sought a fine of more than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USD" class="mw-redirect" title="USD" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">US $</a>10 billion, which was expected to be reduced to $8 or $9 billion in negotiations.<sup id="cite_ref-Wall_Street_Journal_37-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-Wall_Street_Journal-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[37]</a></sup> BNP Paribas was said to have laundered up to US $100 billion from the sanctioned countries of Sudan, Iran, and Cuba.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[38]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">On 1 July 2014, BNP Paribas pled guilty in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York(state)" class="mw-redirect" title="New York (state)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">New York</a> state court to falsifying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_records" class="mw-redirect" title="Business records" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">business records</a> as well as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy(civil)" title="Conspiracy (civil)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">conspiracy</a> in connection to those falsifications. It is also expected to plead guilty in federal court to violating laws against money-laundering.<sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup> It agreed to pay $8.9 billion, the largest fine ever for violating U.S. sanctions, and substantially more than the previous record of $1.9 billion.<sup id="cite_ref-nytimes_bnp_admits_guilt_19-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-nytimes_bnp_admits_guilt-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup> BNP Paribas was also barred for one year under the plea agreement from certain US dollar-dominated transactions. The fine exceeded the bank's $6.4 billion 2013 annual income and the $1.1 billion it previously had allocated for the anticipated fine.<sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-forbes_annual_income_40-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-forbes_annual_income-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[40]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">The bank's failure to cooperate with the multi-year investigation was given as a significant factor in the size of the fine. Additionally, BNP Paribas continued to process sanctioned transactions after the investigation began. About 30 employees left the bank as a result of the investigation.<sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup> According to the FBI’s New York Field Office and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) "BNPP deliberately disregarded the law and provided rogue nations, and Sudan in particular, with vital access to the global financial system, helping that country’s lawless government to harbor and support terrorists and to persecute its own people. Today’s sentence demonstrates that financial institutions will be punished severely but appropriately for violating sanctions laws and risking our national security interests."<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[41]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">After the fine was announced, BNP said it would be "just fine" and that it had "a comprehensive plan" to avoid similar violations in the future. The company's stock, which had fallen 12% since news of the investigation first leaked, rose 4% on the announcement.<sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-forbes_annual_income_40-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-forbes_annual_income-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[40]</a></sup> To comply with the transaction ban, BNP Paribas will use a third party to clear its US transactions. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard%26_Poor%27s" title="Standard & Poor's" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Standard & Poor's</a> said it was reviewing the bank's financial standing<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="line-height: 1; white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span title="The time period mentioned near this tag is ambiguous. (June 2016)">when?</span></a></i>]</sup> in light of the fine and penalties for a possible downgrade.<sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Russia" title="President of Russia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Russian president</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" title="Vladimir Putin" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Vladimir Putin</a> alleged without providing any supporting evidence that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States" title="Federal government of the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">US government</a> was using the case to punish France for selling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral-class_amphibious_assault_ship#Rusgesian_purchase" title="Mistral-class amphibious assault ship" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mistral</a> amphibious assault ships to Russia. He said the large fine and the imposition of sanctions on the French bank were the result of US displeasure with France's decision not to stop the sale.<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[42]</a></sup> Former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Central_Bank" title="European Central Bank" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">European Central Bank</a> president <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Trichet" title="Jean-Claude Trichet" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jean-Claude Trichet</a> had previously said that a large fine was neither fair nor proportionate to the violations and could disrupt the global banking system.<sup id="cite_ref-cnn_money_39-6" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-cnn_money-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup></p><h3 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="152_Million_Erroneous_Trade_case">152 Million Erroneous Trade case</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BNP_Paribas&action=edit§ion=24" title="Edit section: 152 Million Erroneous Trade case" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">The German <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus(German_magazine)" title="Focus (German magazine)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">FOCUS</a> magazine and the French <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les%C3%89chos_(newspaper)" title="Les Échos (newspaper)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Les Echos</a> newspaper published an article regarding a 163 Million EUR mistrade (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erroneous_trade" class="mw-redirect" title="Erroneous trade" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">erroneous trade</a>) in which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BNP_Paribas_Arbitrage&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="BNP Paribas Arbitrage (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">BNP Paribas Arbitrage</a> is allegedly involved in.<sup id="cite_ref-Online_43-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-Online-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[43]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[44]</a></sup> The bank has sold securities for 326,400 EUR to the investor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_S." title="Armin S." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Armin S.</a> but the value of the securities is 163 Million EUR according to the bank.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">According to the article, the error remained unnoticed for several days. BNP has even reconfirmed the original price. However, a trade-cancellation was only possible until the next day according to prevailing mistrade rules.</p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;">A German lawyer stated in the article that a bank not recognizing an error of this magnitude should not be protected by law.<sup id="cite_ref-Online_43-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-Online-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[43]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[45]</a></sup> <sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#cite_note-46" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[46]</a></sup></p></span></div><div style="">===</div></div>