BNP Paribas reviews

BNP Paribas is my third employer in the banking industry and my worst career move. My only motivators are comp and PTO. When I describe management at BNP Paribas, specifically HR, I often say it’s “the skilled being led by the clueless”. It’s a cluster of inexperienced ‘HEADS’. It’s an inside joke that isn’t laughable for those of us who are under the charge of these managers.

1-Artificial/illusory career progression 2-International mobility opportunities more of a mirage 3-Low pay, benefit package is poor (and convoluted to distract from that fact) 4-Old school style management 5-Work becomes very administrative and low-skill after you learn the internal procedures - and becoming more so under the future plans 6-Training not well structured and main skills learned not easily transferable to other fields outside pure corporate credit analysis thus limiting future mobility Some additional info on the above points: 1-Career progression within the department is composed of 3 levels within 2 categories (analyst 1,2,3 -> associate 1,2,3). It translates into nothing substantial in terms of responsabilities and skills developed, it's merely a way to create an artificial notion of career progression. 2-A big deal is made of mobility (esp. internationally) to keep employees motivated in spite of no actual career progression in the department. However, it is a very long and slow process (you cannot even apply or start a process before 2 years as an FTE), and the department is generally perceived as a low cost, low-skill center in other countries, which limits your chances of moving to more exciting fields. Do not fall for the promise of exciting int'l opportunities, it's a mirage, it's probably easier to find other opportunities in other banks. 3-Self-explanatory. 4-Structure is very hierarchical, decisions are made high up with little care to employees' circumstances and during the pandemic they often gave very little short notice on changes to homeworking and never keyed people into their views and what was being discussed. Management is generally pretty 90s style, "shut up and do what I say". You're pretty disposable as an employee and there isnt much of an attempt to hide that. 5-After you come to terms with the intricate internal procedures, the work itself, the "analysis" is surface-level and low-skill. Lots of it is just data entry and admin-style stuff to make sure the systems reflect things correctly. You will not develop significant skills that would be easily transferable - little to no modelling or deeper analysis, no deal structuring or origination, etc.. Honestly, very little technical that could help you step up in your career. 6-Self-explanatory (EMEA Credit Analytics)