BNP Paribas

The most current account of where BNP Paribas now stands. Sebastian Shehadi, using data compiled by the Amsterdam research firm Profundo, reports that BNP Paribas last underwrote an Israeli government bond in March 2024, as part of the $8 billion multi-tranche deal, and has underwritten none since. Unlike Barclays, which left the syndicate without saying so, BNP Paribas acknowledged its retreat openly. The five banks still underwriting Israeli issues are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase. BNP Paribas nonetheless continues to buy Israeli government bonds on Israel's domestic market through the standardised auction process, which Profundo's Ward Warmerdam notes involves no direct relationship with the Israeli government, no prospectus and no public announcement; he describes both banks as 'trying to have it both ways: distancing themselves from the Israeli government without burning commercial and political bridges'. Asked about the withdrawal, BNP Paribas said it 'evaluates its financing decisions on a case-by-case basis' and was 'deeply concerned about the tragic events in the region and, in particular, the devastating impact on civilians'.

Filed with the Autorité des marchés financiers on 19 March 2026 under number D.26-0112. The group's vigilance plan, published under France's Law No. 2017-399 of 27 March 2017 to identify and prevent serious harm to human rights, fundamental freedoms, health, safety and the environment arising from its business relationships, is published within it. It is the successor to the 2024 plan whose omissions are the subject of the Paris proceedings, and the document against which any correspondence with the bank should be checked.

Establishes that the campaign has not touched the financials. BNP Paribas reported 2025 revenues of EUR 51,223 million, up 4.9 per cent, net income of EUR 12,225 million, up 4.6 per cent, and a return on tangible equity of 11.6 per cent against an 11.5 per cent target. The bank raised its 2028 trajectory at the same time. Divestment and account switching are therefore arguments about exclusion and fiduciary risk, not about damaging the share price.

The fifth annual report of the European and Palestinian coalition, researched by Profundo, published on 25 November 2025 and hosted by the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq. It screens 104 businesses and identifies 1,115 European financial institutions with financial relationships to them, $310.65 billion of loans and underwriting between January 2023 and August 2025, and $1,503 billion of shares and bonds held as at 31 August 2025. BNP Paribas heads the creditor table at $41.5 billion, ahead of Deutsche Bank at $38.3 billion, Barclays at $30.7 billion and HSBC at $25.2 billion. The 2025 edition widened its scope beyond the settlement enterprise to companies involved in sustaining the occupation and in activities identified as genocide, and carries a foreword by the UN Special Rapporteur.

The Palestinian-led coalition's response to the report, naming BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Barclays as the top creditor banks. It states that 'European financial institutions and investors have been funding dozens of corporations that are directly enabling Israel's illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide against Indigenous Palestinians', and calls on supporters to intensify divestment campaigning against complicit states, institutions and corporations.

The global union federation for services and finance workers wrote to BNP Paribas's chief executive on 8 October 2025 asking the bank to stop financing companies operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and to conduct heightened human rights due diligence. It cites Oxfam's finding that BNP Paribas provided $28 billion in loans and underwriting to settlement-linked companies between January 2021 and August 2024, including $1.2 billion of underwriting for Siemens, which supplies and maintains rolling stock on Israel's A1 line serving settlements. The letter invokes the ICJ advisory opinion, the OECD Guidelines, and the global labour agreement UNI and BNP Paribas renewed in November 2024.

Investigation by Siem Eikelenboom and Casper Rouffaer, drawing on Profundo research and SEC filings, establishing that BNP Paribas underwrote $2 billion of Israeli government bonds in March 2024 and naming it as one of seven banks that acted as intermediaries for $19.4 billion of issuance between 7 October 2023 and January 2025. BNP Paribas told the journalists it had neither invested nor provided financing and that its 'role as an intermediary is now over', adding that the post-October 2023 deals had been arranged with other banks before the conflict began. Human rights experts quoted in the article argue the activity may breach the OECD Guidelines on human rights due diligence.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the OPT concludes that Israeli authorities and security forces 'have committed and are continuing to commit' acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and that Israel 'bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide' (its report of 16 September 2025, paras. 252 and 255).

The bank loosened the defence and security sector policy that had barred it since 2010 from financing the production and trade of 'controversial weapons', a term it judged too broad. The revised policy distinguishes weapons prohibited under major international agreements (anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, and chemical, biological and nuclear weapons outside the relevant treaties) from those that are not. BNP Paribas said its sector policies are updated regularly and that the change 'reflects the group's long-standing commitment to supporting the financing of defence companies, primarily within NATO countries, mostly in Europe'.

The group's own published sector policy for defence and security financing, in the form it took after the 2025 revision. This is the document to quote in correspondence about which weapons and which clients the bank will finance, and the text against which any answer from the bank should be checked.

BNP Paribas's own published briefing on the conflict, dated July 2025 and hosted on the group's website. It is the bank's standing public answer to campaigners and the document to quote back to it in correspondence.

Accessible summary of A/HRC/59/23, recording BNP Paribas among the banks the report says allowed Israel to contain the interest rate premium on the treasury bonds funding the war in Gaza.

The central document for this profile. Paragraph 74 records that treasury bonds are 'the main source of finance for the Israeli State budget' and 'have played a critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza'; that the Israeli military budget grew from 4.2 per cent to 8.3 per cent of GDP between 2022 and 2024; that Israel funded the resulting deficit by increasing bond issuance, 'including $8 billion in March 2024 and $5 billion in February 2025, alongside issuances on its domestic shekel market'; and that 'Some of the world's largest banks, including BNP Paribas and Barclays, stepped in to boost market confidence by underwriting these international and domestic treasury bonds, allowing Israel to contain the interest rate premium, despite a credit downgrade.' The footnote attached to BNP Paribas cites the US Securities and Exchange Commission filing for the March 2024 issuance and the Israeli government's press page of 6 March 2024.

The claimant's own announcement. Juristes pour le respect du droit international, represented by Ancile Avocats, brought proceedings against BNP Paribas at the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris for breach of its obligations under France's 2017 duty of vigilance law. The claim is brought in the name of the association and of Ghislain Poissonnier, its vice-president and a small shareholder in the bank. It alleges that the bank's 2024 vigilance plan omitted its financial support to Israel, including a guarantee on an $8 billion bond issue and support for Elbit Systems. A formal notice sent in December 2024 was refused in March 2025. The proceedings are civil, a case management hearing has been listed, and judgment is expected to take up to two years.

The Belgian organisations 11.11.11 and FairFin, reading SEC filings, reported that BNP Paribas Securities Corp North America traded Elbit Systems shares during the first quarter of 2025. They said that if BNP Paribas is serious about its ethical investment commitments it must withdraw from Elbit and blacklist comparable companies. BNP Paribas Fortis replied that its US division acted as a broker for a client, and that the group neither owns Elbit shares nor finances the company. The Belgian federal state holds a stake in BNP Paribas, which is why Belgian parliamentarians have pressed the point.

The bank's own figures, in its own press release of 6 March 2025. BNP Paribas 'deployed EUR 24 billion at the end of 2024 to large corporate groups as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, of which EUR 12 billion was directly attributable to the defence sector'. Seventy per cent of those companies are European, 40 per cent French, and 25 per cent North American. The bank records participation in EUR 55 billion of defence-sector bond issuance over three years, EUR 33 billion of it in 2024, and EUR 2.2 billion of primary equity issuance in 2023-24. At the end of 2024 it managed EUR 2.5 billion of assets in defence companies: EUR 200 million through BNP Paribas Développement across 46 French SMEs, EUR 1.7 billion through BNP Paribas Asset Management and EUR 500 million through BNP Paribas Cardif. The release sets no country, conflict or human rights condition on any of it.

Research by Profundo establishing that seven banks (Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Citi, Barclays and JPMorgan Chase) underwrote $19.4 billion of Israeli government bonds between 7 October 2023 and January 2025, issuance the Israeli government stated was to finance the costs of the war in Gaza. Goldman Sachs alone underwrote more than $7 billion. This is the research against which BNP Paribas's later withdrawal from the syndicate can be measured.

The three organisations running the French street campaign published these figures alongside a third national week of branch demonstrations from 13 to 19 January 2025: $33 billion of credit to 58 complicit companies between January 2021 and September 2024; $674 million lent to Caterpillar and $235 million held in its shares and bonds over the same period; $91 million invested in Elbit Systems between 2021 and 2024; EUR 5.7 billion of credit to major weapons suppliers between 2021 and 2023; and the $2 billion committed to the March 2024 Israeli issuance. These are campaigners' figures, not the bank's.

Documents BNP Paribas among the largest European finance providers to companies selling weapons to Israel, including $38 million to Elbit Systems, within sector totals of EUR 36.1 billion of loans and underwriting and EUR 26 billion of shares and bonds.

The International Court of Justice found Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful, held settlements and their associated economic activity contrary to international law, and set out the obligations of states in relation to dealings arising from the occupation. The legal framework on which public procurement reviews and institutional exclusion decisions rest.

The group's framework for issuing green bonds, setting out a EUR 200 billion low-carbon transition target to 2025. It is the bank's own sustainability positioning, and can be read against the defence-sector figures it published in March 2025.

The primary filing for the transaction, and the document the UN Special Rapporteur's report footnotes for BNP Paribas's role. The State of Israel registered an $8 billion multi-tranche international bond issue in the United States on 5 March 2024. Reading the same filing, Profundo and Follow the Money put BNP Paribas's commitment at $2 billion of the $8 billion raised. It is the last Israeli sovereign issue in which BNP Paribas has taken part.

International Court of Justice found a real and imminent risk to the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide, and ordered Israel to prevent them. The Court made no finding on the merits of the genocide claim; the order's significance for lenders is that it puts them on notice of a duty of prevention.

The first DBIO report, and the baseline against which later editions are read. It found BNP Paribas providing $17.30 billion of loans and underwriting to 27 of 50 settlement-supporting companies and holding $3.34 billion of bonds and shares in 30 of them, ranking it Europe's largest such lender and twelfth largest investor. Companies named include Booking.com ($592 million of credit between 2018 and May 2021), Elbit Systems ($38 million), HeidelbergCement ($597 million), Caterpillar, TripAdvisor and Airbnb. The coalition received no response from the bank's Paris headquarters. Demonstrations followed at BNP Paribas's Paris headquarters and at branches across France and other European cities in February 2022.

The report that first traced French bank money to the settlements, co-signed by the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq alongside FIDH, the Association France Palestine Solidarité, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Fair Finance France, the Ligue des droits de l'Homme, Solidaires and the CGT. It documents a loan totalling EUR 288 million from a consortium including BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Lyonnais and Natixis Banques Populaires to the Israel Electric Corporation, which supplies electricity directly to settlements, and records direct and indirect minority shareholdings by the five French financial groups in banks and businesses operating in settlements.