BNP Paribas is a European leader in global banking and financial services and one of the six strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's. Present across Europe through all its business lines, the Group has four domestic retail banking markets in France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg. It has one of the largest international networks with operations in 83 countries and 202,300 employees, including 160,200 in Europe, 15,200 in North America and 10,200 in Asia. (09/30/2009)