BNP Paribas to step up cross-selling with U.S. Bank of the West

PARIS (Reuters) - France's biggest bank BNP Paribas said on Monday its corporate and institutional bank (CIB) unit in the United States would extend its mergers and acquisitions services for corporate clients of its U.S. retail unit Bank of the West.

The move is part of a plan to boost cross-selling within the group, as it intends to grow revenue in North America by more than 4 percent annually by 2020 with a balanced contribution from retail banking and from CIB.

"BNP Paribas' corporate and institutional bank launches new mergers and acquisitions service for Bank of the West commercial banking clients," the bank said in a statement.

It declined to comment whether any hires were planned or what was the size of targeted corporate clients, but said in the statement that Bank of the West expertise was in technology, healthcare, beverage, food and agribusiness sectors.

BNP said during its investor day in March this year that it planned to grow the number and the size of corporate clients of Bank of the West, moving to the segment of companies with $500 million (£374.59 million) of turnover.

"This BNP Paribas cross-organizational platform will provide Bank of the West clients with access to the full spectrum of M&A solutions both in the U.S. and globally and will ensure that all product capabilities of BNP Paribas Group will be offered," said Lincoln Payton, BNP Paribas CIB advisory head for Americas.

Bank of the West revenue was up by 2.6 percent over the first nine months of the year, while its pretax income fell by 2.3 percent.

BNP Paribas has faced higher regulatory and compliance costs in the United States following the $8.9 billion fine over sanctions violations and the Federal Reserve requirement for large foreign banks to set up an intermediate holding company in the United States.

Last year, the bank raised cash from an initial public offering of a stake in First Hawaiian Inc, the Honolulu-based bank.

(Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva, editing by David Evans)