BNP Paribas Hires Specialist in Aviation Finance

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Aug 1, 2011) - BNP Paribas announces that Christian Wulf has joined the Aviation Finance Group as Director in charge of Latin America. Christian is based in New York and reports to Olivier Trauchessec, Head of Aviation Finance, Americas.

Chris has over 15 years of experience and great knowledge of the Latin American region. "Chris brings a very strong combination of industry knowledge, product specialization and structuring capabilities," said Olivier Trauchessec. "He also knows very well the region, the clients and the specificities of the Latam market which he has covered under various positions."

Chris joins from the Aviation Finance Group of KfW in Frankfurt where he was in charge of the bank's aviation finance activities in North America. Prior to KfW, Chris held a position with WestLB's New York branch, where he was responsible for the bank's transportation finance activities in the Americas. Before that he worked for DVB Bank in New York and Frankfurt and for HSH Nordbank in Hamburg, Germany.

Chris replaces Bertrand Dehouck, also Director in the Aviation Finance Group, who joined the group in 2004. Going forward Bertrand will head the bank's efforts towards the operating lessors as he will be in charge of the relationship with all the Aircraft Leasing Companies in the Americas. Bertrand also reports to Olivier. Starting in 2006 he was in charge of the relationship with all Latin American airlines in addition to some important operating lessors in North America. Bertrand played a key role in originating and structuring several milestone transactions and by positioning the bank as the leading player in Aviation Finance in the Latin American region. Bertrand has also been instrumental in growing the bank's franchise with Leasing Companies developing non-recourse products and capital markets solutions.

BNP Paribas continues to build its leading Aviation Finance Group and to expand its franchise with Aircraft Lessors and Latin American airlines by maximizing cross-selling opportunities. BNP Paribas' Aviation Finance Group was named "Aircraft Finance Innovator of the Year" in Jane's Transport Finance Awards 2010, for the third consecutive year.

BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking
BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking employs around 20,000 people in over 50 countries and services 14,000 corporate and institutional clients worldwide.

BNP Paribas CIB excels in:
Derivatives - where it is one of the leading global players in rates, credit, forex, commodity and equity derivatives
Capital markets - where it is one of the top European houses in both ECM and DCM (bond, securitization, convertibles and equity issuance)
Structured finance - where it is amongst the leaders in acquisition, export, project, energy and commodity finance globally
www.cib.bnpparibas.com

About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the strongest banks in the world*. The Group has a presence in more than 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees, including more than 160,000 in Europe. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail banking model across the Europe-Mediterranean zone and boasts a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and solid and fast-growing businesses in Asia.
*Rated AA by Standard & Poor's i.e. 3rd rating level on a scale of 22.