(Sept 23): BNP Paribas SA agreed to buy HSBC Holdings plc's private banking operations in Germany, as the French lender seeks a bigger slice of the nation’s growing market for wealth management. 

Adding the unit will take assets under management in BNP Paribas’ local wealth management business to more than €40 billion (US$44.6 billion or RM186.89 billion), according to a statement on Monday. BNP Paribas didn’t disclose the purchase price.

A large number of family-owned businesses is driving demand for wealth services in Germany, with domestic lenders including Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG seeking growth in private banking too. The deal also comes just a few months after ABN Amro Bank NV bought German lender Hauck & Aufhäuser Lampe Privatbank AG for €672 million.

Bloomberg reported BNP Paribas’ interest in the wealth management unit in July.

BNP Paribas Germany, headed by Lutz Diederichs, has long said it wants to grow in German private banking. The French lender says its wealth unit’s €446 billion in total assets under management make it the largest private bank in the euro area, which doesn’t include Switzerland. 

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