As a leading financial institution with a strong presence in Luxembourg, how does BNP Paribas see the bank supporting the growth of the private equity market in the region?

“Private equity, and private capital as a whole, is a key area of development for BNP Paribas. Over the last years, we have invested significantly in the technology of our core platforms and at the same time reinforcing our teams. As we are convinced that Luxembourg’s ecosystem (regulators, lawyers…) is amongst the most favourable to private markets for fund structuration, we have decided to heavily invest locally in people, expertise, technology to become a catalyst for the asset servicing industry. With almost 300 private capital experts, we became one of the leading depositary banks and fund administrators on the market, growing at a pace of 40% per year.

With a focus on the complexification on funds structuration what specific resources or services does BNP Paribas provide to facilitate seamless domiciled cross-funds monitoring for private equity players in Luxembourg?

“ – Fund structuration complexity has increased during these last 5 years, especially for private debt strategies. At BNP Paribas, we have built a fully integrated solution based on transactions with loan administration services, integrated with our fund administration capabilities and investors services. Thanks to these fully end-to-end processes, we have smoothened the use of data for reporting needs. All data based on transactional monitoring are only entered once into our systems. This comprehensive solution enables us to provide scalable solutions to face huge volume increases but also ensures quality of data and reduces the need of reconciliation between several sources.

—We have developed a global operating model with local expertise across the various locations where we accompany our clients, such as in Luxembourg. Our teams are benefiting from the same set up and infrastructures, which enables us to support our clients in their development internationally.

Beyond the event sponsorship, what other initiatives is BNP Paribas undertaking to contribute to the development of the private equity ecosystem in Luxembourg?

“In Luxembourg, BNP Paribas is also a member of associations such as the LPEA or Alfi and takes part in working groups on some key evolutions of the market.

We have a unique setup based on our global operating model, which allows us to support clients with their Luxembourg vehicles, as well as in other fund domiciles. Thanks to our integrated bank model, we can operate from Luxembourg for the whole fund structuration, leveraging our single worldwide platform.

We are hiring young talents coming from the business and engineering schools, accompanying them on their learning curve on private equity through specific trainings and offering them broad and international career paths leveraging innovation and technology. But training is not only for young talents. I personally recently participated in a university certification in private equity at HEC Liège Luxembourg in partnership with LPEA. Upskilling is also important for senior management, and you are never too old to learn!”