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France’s BNP Paribas says there are too many European banks

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5 months ago

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A sign on the exterior of a BNP Paribas SA bank branch in Paris, France, on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024.

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France’s BNP Paribas on Thursday said there are simply too many European lenders for the region to be able to compete with rivals from the U.S. and Asia, calling for the creation of more homegrown heavyweight banking champions.

Speaking to CNBC’s Charlotte Reed at the Bank of America Financials CEO Conference, BNP Paribas Chief Financial Officer Lars Machenil voiced his support for greater integration in Europe’s banking sector.

His comments come as Italy’s UniCredit ups the ante on its apparent takeover attempt of Germany’s Commerzbank, while Spain’s BBVA continues to actively pursue its domestic rival, Banco Sabadell.

“If I would ask you, how many banks are there in Europe, your right answer would be too many,” Machenil said.

“If we are very fragmented in activity, therefore the competition is not the same thing as what you might see in other regions. So … you basically should get that consolidation and get that going,” he added.

Milan-based UniCredit has ratcheted up the pressure on Frankfurt-based Commerzbank in recent weeks as it seeks to become the biggest investor in Germany’s second-largest lender with a 21% stake.

UniCredit, which took a 9% stake in Commerzbank earlier this month, appears to have caught German authorities off guard with the potential multibillion-euro merger.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has previously called for greater integration in Europe’s banking sector, is firmly opposed to the apparent takeover attempt. Scholz has reportedly described UniCredit’s move as an “unfriendly” and “hostile” attack.

Germany’s position on UniCredit’s swoop has prompted some to accuse Berlin of favoring European banking integration only on its own terms.

Domestic consolidation

BNP Paribas’s Machenil said that while domestic consolidation would help to stabilize uncertainty in Europe’s banking environment, cross-border integration was “still a bit further away,” citing differing systems and products.

Asked whether this meant he believed cross-border banking mergers in Europe appeared to something of a farfetched reality, Machenil replied: “It’s two different things.”

“I think the ones which are in a nation, economically, they make sense, and they should, economically, happen,” he continued. “When you look at really cross border. So, a bank that is based in one country only and based in another country only, that economically doesn’t make sense because there are no synergies.”

Earlier in the year, Spanish bank BBVA shocked markets when it launched an all-share takeover offer for domestic rival Banco Sabadell.

The head of Banco Sabadell said earlier this month that it is highly unlikely BBVA will succeed with its multi-billion-euro hostile bid, Reuters reported. And yet, BBVA CEO Onur Genç told CNBC on Wednesday that the takeover was “moving according to plan.”

Spanish authorities, which have the power to block any merger or acquisition of a bank, have voiced their opposition to BBVA’s hostile takeover bid, citing potentially harmful effects on the county’s financial system.

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Anthropic closes in on $3.5 billion funding round

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February 24, 2025

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Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21st, 2025.

Gerry Miller | CNBC

Anthropic is in talks to raise a $3.5 billion funding round, significantly more than the amount previously expected, CNBC has confirmed.

The round would roughly triple the artificial intelligence startup’s valuation to $61.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. Lightspeed Ventures is leading the funding, with participation from General Catalyst and others, the sources said.

The financing, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, signals continued investor demand for top-tier AI companies, even in the face of potential disruption from China’s DeepSeek. Anthropic is backed by Amazon and Google, and had initially set out to raise $2 billion, according to a source.

Anthropic declined to comment.

The company’s last private market valuation was $18 billion. Amazon has poured $8 billion into the startup.

Anthropic was founded by early OpenAI employees and is the creator of the popular chatbot Claude. Earlier Monday, Anthropic released what it says is it’s “most intelligent AI model yet. Its so-called hybrid model combines an ability to reason — or stopping to think about complex answers — with a traditional model that spits out answers in real time.

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