Bonjour, Miami: Giant French bank, one of the world’s largest, setting up shop in Brickell

In addition to being popular global destinations for travelers, Miami and Paris will have something else in common: Both will have BNP Paribas offices after the European Union’s biggest bank opens in Miami later this year.

Set to open between October and December, the Paris-based bank’s Miami office will be located in the Brickell financial district at 801 Brickell Ave. Brickell has emerged as a hub for banking and other financial and legal services firms, with BNP Paribas’ competitors like JPMorgan Chase already there.

Citadel, the hedge-fund giant, its Citadel Securities securities trading arm, Thoma Bravo, one of America’s leading private equity firms, as well as a burgeoning row of the nation’s largest corporate law firms will be BNP’s neighbors in Brickell.

Citing growth in the city’s financial sector and a high number of clients in Miami, John Gallo, BNP Paribas co-head of global markets Americas, thinks opening an office in the Magic City is a natural progression of the company’s efforts to best serve local clients.

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“Our new office is another recent example of scaling our business in ways that fully support our clients ambitions, as more of our clients build a presence in South Florida,” Gallo said. “With this opportunity to better serve our clients, we deliver on our ambitions to grow our corporate and institutional banking franchise in the Americas.

Kevin Abraszek, a BNP Paribas human resources representative, said about 50 employees will staff the Brickell office. The team will be a combination of current BNP employees and local talent. That includes recruiting new hires who graduate from local universities like the University of Miami or Florida International University.

“We’re going to start with a focus on internal staff who currently support our clients in the Miami area and we’ll complement that with talent from the local market, including leveraging our local college campus recruitment efforts,” he said.

Having a physical presence in Miami is important for the global financial services giant that employs 190,000 people in 65 countries. As its clients continue to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic, Abraszek affirmed the need for them to receive the most in-person attention possible.

BNP Paribas managing director Luis Berlfein, who has been working closely on the Miami market, noticed during the pandemic how well-attended the company’s Miami events have been. That, combined with Miami’s potential and the firm’s growing client list in South Florida, made it appealing to open a U.S. office here.

“There’s momentum of big names moving their headquarters to Miami,” Berlfein said. “This brings us a level of community that is circling around these big accounts. There are lawyers, IT providers and others that go together with the financial community. This is a movement that was triggered by the pandemic and the momentum has continued. We don’t want to miss it.”

The Miami office will be the latest site for BNP Paribas’ U.S. expansion. In October 2021, the company opened an office in Philadelphia and upgraded its two New York City offices and a New Jersey office. BNP Paribas also has offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

It’s the fifth-largest banking company in the world with $3.05 trillion in assets. The only U.S. banks in the top 10 are JPMorgan at No. 6 ($3.025 trillion) and Bank of America at No. 10 ($2.25 trillion).

The four biggest global banks are: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ($5.1 trillion); China Construction Bank ($4.3 trillion); Agricultural Bank of China ($4.2 trillion); and Bank of China Limited ($3.7 trillion).