BNP Paribas operations not affected

Abu Dhabi: BNP Paribas, one of the main banks in Europe, may be able to partly recover its more than 405 million euro exposure to bankrupt US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, a senior executive of the Paris-headquartered bank said late on Thursday.

BNP Paribas' UAE Country Head Philippe Aroyo told Gulf News that parts of their money pumped into market operations by Lehman Brothers could be recovered, although he could not immediately tell how much.

"Our total exposure to Lehman Brothers is less than one per cent of our total capitalisation, so it won't affect BNP Paribas operations," Aroyo said.

He said BNP Paribas' market capitalisation, based on its current share price, exceeds 50 billion euros.

A statement from BNP Paribas said their global exposure to Lehman Brothers includes net derivative claims of about 200 million euros, bank loans of 180 million euros and letters of credit valued at 25 million euros.