French bank BNP Paribas sees Asian economic recovery in 2010

October 6th, 2009 SocGen to raise euro4.8 billion to pay state loansPARIS — Societe Generale SA on Tuesday became the second French bank to say it is launching a rights issue to repay emergency funding from the French government early. SocGen, France's second largest bank, said in a statement it wants to raise euro4.8 billion ($7.02 billion), of which it intends to pay back euro3.4 billion to the government.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite the political stability promised by the Congress-led coalition's resounding win at the recent parliamentary polls, the outlook remains dim for the Indian economy till 2010, says the economic intelligence arm of global rating agency Moody's. 'The robust export performance seen in the December quarter likely turned negative in the opening months of 2009,' Sharman Chan, economist with Moody's Economy.com, said Thursday.

May 6th, 2009 BNP Paribas 1Q profit drops 21 percentPARIS — French bank BNP Paribas said Wednesday its net profit slumped 21 percent in the first quarter as its retail banking activities in the United States were hammered amid the global economic downturn. Paris-based BNP Paribas, the euro zone's largest bank by deposits, said net profit fell to euro1.56 billion ($2.08 billion) in the first quarter from euro1.98 billion a year earlier.

April 29th, 2009 Fortis shareholders back bank sale to BNP ParibasUTRECHT, Netherlands — Fortis Holding shareholders gave the final go-ahead Wednesday for the sale of Belgium's largest bank to France's BNP Paribas, in a deal that makes Paribas the largest bank in the euro zone by deposits. The proposal won 77 percent support of the shares cast at a shareholders meeting that was tame compared with an uproarious gathering Tuesday in Ghent, Belgium.

April 28th, 2009 Fortis shareholders vote for BNP Paribas saleGHENT, Belgium — Fortis Holding shareholders have voted in favor of selling Belgium's largest bank to France's BNP Paribas. Some 73 percent of shareholders voted "yes" just minutes after hundreds of rebel small shareholders walked out in protest against recent investors taking part in the key vote that legitimizes the government rescue and sale of Fortis last October.

April 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Leading Kerala-based retail stockbroking firm Geojit Financial Services Ltd was Thursday renamed Geojit BNP Paribas. BNP Paribas, the Paris-based banking group said it has become the largest shareholder of Geojit Financial Services, and that all 500 Geojit offices in India will change their name and bear the colours of BNP Paribas.

April 17th, 2009 MANILA - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Friday said that it approved a total of $10.5 billion in loans in 2008, the highest in its 42-year history. India was the largest borrower with $2.9 billion, or 27.4 percent of the total loans extended last year.

April 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Cricket will be included in the 2010 Asian Games as a major discipline, which will be hosted by China from November 12 to 27, 2010. As many as 45 countries will compete in 42 various sports disciplines during the 16th edition of Asian Games, which will be held Guangzhou, China.

April 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama Tuesday said efforts to take the economy from 'recession to recovery' are 'starting to work', although there was more work to be done to restore growth. The steps taken to re-capitalise banks, strengthen the housing market and rescue the auto sector were 'necessary pieces of the recovery puzzle', he said in an address at Georgetown University in Washington.

April 9th, 2009 FRANKFURT - European economies can only expect to begin their recovery in 2010, the European Central Bank (ECB) predicted Thursday. This year, global demand is likely to remain very low since global economies including the eurozone are 'in a serious downturn', the ECB wrote in its monthly newsletter, published Thursday.

April 6th, 2009 PARIS - The world will begin to emerge from the economic crisis in the first quarter of 2010, and the recovery will start in the US housing market, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was quoted Monday as saying. 'The crisis began in the United States, in the housing sector.

March 31st, 2009 MANILA - Economic growth in developing Asia was expected to slow to its lowest rate in more than a decade due to the global economic crisis, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday. It predicted India's economic growth would be five percent in 2009.

March 21st, 2009 KOCHI - City-based Geojit Financial Services Ltd Friday launched internet trading in currency derivatives. BNP Paribas Personal Investors deputy chief executive Vincent Lecomte opened the trading at a function here.

March 18th, 2009 INDIAN WELLS - India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles were ousted by Israel's Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi of Belarus from the pre-quarterfinals of the BNB Paribas Open tennis. The third seeded Indo-Bahamian pair was defeated 6-7 (2), 4-6 Thursday in a hard fought battle.

January 13th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Asia's economy might recover from the recession as early as the second quarter of this year, supported by the governments' policy responses to the downturn and the sharp drop in commodity prices, a news report said Wednesday. 'The cavalry is on its way in the form of one of the most significant policy responses ever,' the Straits Times quoted HSBC senior Asian economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde as saying.