(Reuters) – BNP Paribas fell on Friday at the Paris Stock Exchange after information from the Bloomberg news agency that the European Central Bank opposes the implementation of a rule likely to reduce the impact of the planned acquisition of the AXA asset management subsidiary on the capital of the French Bank.
At 2:22 p.m. GMT, the BNP Paribas action lost 3.88%, against a 0.62% drop in CAC 40 at the same time.
According to information from Bloomberg, the ECB has issued a negative opinion on the application to this operation of the “Danish compromise”, a regulatory device to reduce the capital cost of the insurance activities of banking groups by avoiding the double count of capital requirements of the two activities.
Claudia Buch, president of the BCE supervisory board, said in December that the institution would apply this regulatory treatment favorable to a case -by -case basis.
The “Danish compromise”, which makes the acquisition of a much less expensive capital manager, is one of the engines of certain recent merger-acquisition operations, including that of Axa Investment Managers (AXA IM) by BNP Paribas.
By opposing the use of the regulations, the BCE banking supervision body wants to ensure equal treatment throughout the sector, specifies Bloomberg by citing sources close to the file.
Contacted by Reuters, BNP Paribas and Axa did not wish to comment.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, with the contribution of Florence Lève)
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