BNP Paribas to grow investment bank in London-union citing CEO

PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) plans to grow its corporate and institutional bank (CIB) business in London, Chief Executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe was quoted as saying by a French trade union.

BNP Paribas has said it aims to grab market share from rivals pulling back from investment banking even as its moves ahead with its own cuts.

The French bank is targeting more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion) of cost savings at its investment bank over the next three years, while it has not yet given details of what the impact would be in terms of job cuts.

"When asked about the future of London, Mr Bonnafe confirmed that it is a strategic place in Europe where financial management of large international groups is concentrated," the SNB/CFE-CGC union said in a newsletter published on Friday.

"This is why the presence of CIB, especially in front (office), will grow."

The newsletter did not give any details on staff numbers. The union said Bonnafe made the comments during a presentation to unions on the bank's annual results, which came out on Feb. 5.

BNP Paribas declined to comment.

Front office at an investment bank usually includes employees in charge of sales and corporate finance. The CIB operations of BNP Paribas in Britain are headquartered in central London near Marylebone.

With Britain holding a referendum on European Union membership on June 23, most major British and international firms are making contingency plans, considering the risk of Britain leaving the bloc.

HSBC Holdings (HKSE: 0005.HK - news) said it could move around 1,000 employees from London to Paris in the event of "Brexit". ($1 = 0.9070 euros) (Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva; editing by Adrian Croft)