BNP shifts support staff to new office

A spate of hiring at BNP Paribas means staff are bursting out at the seams.

The French bank is preparing to shift 400 back office staff to a new office on London Wall, the Financial Times reports today.

A spokeswoman for the bank says the move reflects a rush of hiring in the front office. BNP Paribas plans to add 200 equity derivatives staff and 200 fixed income derivatives staff globally by the end of the year, with many of the additions set to occur in London.

New front office staff will be based at the corporate and investment bank's joint global headquarters at Harewood Avenue, with the result that some IT, back office and support staff need to be housed elsewhere, says the spokeswoman.

Banks like JPMorgan and Citigroup locate some of their back office staff in remote locations such as Bournemouth and Belfast. BNP Paribas says it has no plans to transfer staff quite so far afield.