“BNP Paribas’ Timely Exit from US Regional Banks with Bank of the West Sale”

A particularly happy timing. As US regional banks emerge from another nightmare week on the stock market, BNP Paribas left this market just in time. The bank closed on 1^is February the sale of its former subsidiary Bank of the West (BancWest) at an unexpected price, five weeks before the storm triggered by the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank.

Owner for more than forty years of the Californian bank, the group wanted to refocus its retail banking activities on Europe. Furthermore, BancWest did not generate many synergies with the rest of the group. On December 20, 2021, when sector valuations peaked, BNP Paribas accept a takeover proposal Bank of Montreal (BMO) for over $16 billion in cash.