Best bank - BNP Paribas
Best debt house - BNP Paribas
Best equities house - BNP Paribas
Best M&A house - Goldman Sachs
Best local partner - Rothschild
BNP Paribas is the best bank in France again this year. The mercurial Michel Pébéreau will shortly hand over to Baudouin Prot, currently COO. As long as Pébéreau stays on as chairman, though, it is difficult to believe that the bank's strategy will change much. Investment banking consumes about a third of capital; the rest is devoted to domestic and international retail, specialized financial services, wholesale banking and asset management. Only time will tell if the decision not to bid for Crédit Lyonnais was the right one.
In the meantime, though, Société Générale has made noticeable progress in its debt business this year, BNP Paribas still has the edge, particularly when it comes to corporate issuance. BNPP has lead managed bond deals for names including La Poste, Accor, Electricité de France, Saint-Gobain and Danone. Its most spectacular success over the past 12 year, however, was the jumbo transaction of almost e9 billion for France Telecom, completed in January. Raising this much money, right at the beginning of the year, helped FT out of a tight spot and induced new confidence in the company's future among investors.