On the occasion of the 7th Choose France summit, Bruno Le Maire announced over the weekend the opening in France of First Abu Dhabi Bank and the Nigerian Zenith Bank. Following in the footsteps of the American banks that continue to expand in Paris, the French government is now looking to attract institutions from new geographical origins.

First Abu Dhabi Bank and Nigeria's Zenith Bank to open Paris office. Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy and Finance, made the announcement over the weekend ahead of the 7th Choose France summit. This international meeting will bring together some 180 foreign business leaders this Monday at the Château de Versailles, under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. With a record harvest of investment in prospect of 15 billion euros and 56 projects across all sectors.

Excellent sign

"The fact that the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria are locating their financial institutions in Paris is an excellent sign of Paris' financial attractiveness and of our ability to be Europe's leading financial center."said Bruno Le Maire. 

After the unfortunate Totalenergies sequence, whose chairman Patrick Pouyanné raised the possibility of transferring its main listing from Paris to New York at the end of April, the annual event offers the government an opportunity to regain control of France's attractiveness as a financial center.

This long-running post-Brexit project has now been placed under the banner of geographic diversification. This objective was announced at the end of last year during a trip by Bruno Le Maire to New York. On that occasion, the Ministry reported that institutions in South America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific had expressed strong interest in Paris.

Concrete results

With First Abu Dhabi Bank, which has had regulatory approval in France since 1979, and Zenith Bank, here are two concrete results.

"Paris no longer only attracts American financial players, it now attracts them from all over the world", comments Bercy. "Over and above the jobs created in France, these banks will be additional relays to support French companies in their projects in English-speaking Africa and the Gulf.".

First bank in the United Arab Emirates, First Abu Dhabi Bank intends to make Paris the hub for all its activities within the European Union.

"This major expansion will enable the group to offer its services from Paris to major European groups looking to expand in the Middle East, as well as to strengthen the support it provides to investors from the Gulf States in France, and confirms the attractiveness of Paris as a European financial center."explains the Choose France press kit.

For its part, Zenith Bank is to open a third-country credit institution branch in France, with 5 employees.

Prior to the Emirati and Nigerian announcements, the Paris financial center had already stepped up its post-Brexit geographic and sector diversification, with the installation of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek ($400 billion under management) and its Saudi counterpart, the Public Investment Fund or PIF (over $700 billion in assets).

Australian banks

In 2022, the two Australian banks Macquarie and National Australia Bank (NAB) have also made Paris their hub in the European Union. 

Since the vote on the UK's exit from the European Union, Paris has established itself as the European hub for the major US banks (JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley) particularly for their trading activities. Since then, they have confirmed this choice.

Over the weekend, Bruno Le Maire announced that Morgan Stanley would be further strengthening its presence in the capital with the inauguration on Monday of a new "European campus", bringing together the bank's activities following the expansion of its rue de Monceau offices. This expansion includes the creation of 100 new jobs, while staff numbers had already risen from 150 to 400 in three years, from 2021 to 2024. 

Confirmation for Morgan Stanley

However, this is more of a confirmation than a revelation. Morgan Stanley had already announced at the end of last year that it was aiming to employ between 500 and 550 people in Paris within the next two years. The global quantitative research center, also based in France, will increase its workforce from 100 to 130 or even 150 experts.

At the Choose France event, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the Minister of the Economy are scheduled to have lunch with several American bank bosses, including Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Ted Pick of Morgan Stanley, and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America. According to Les Echos, KKR and the Ontario Pension Fund will also be present.

This Monday morning, Gabriel Attal will visit Morgan Stanley's Paris headquarters. He will be received by Ted Pick, according to the daily newspaper.