BNP faces investigation of asset workout group

Reports of $4 million missing from P&L, two employees fired by the French bank

French banking giant BNP Paribas has fired two of its employees in its US asset workout business, which deals in distressed debt and the securities of bankrupt companies, according to a company spokesperson. Additionally, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is investigating the accusations of improper activities in that unit.

In early April, BNP announced that the firm had fired managing director Edward Canale, the head of the asset workout group, and one of his subordinates—unnamed as of mid-April—for misconduct.

A statement released by Janine Haas, director of corporate communications at BNP, stated that “a series of internal audit reviews, conducted over a six-month period, led to a specific investigation beginning in February of 2004, that discovered the improper conduct of Mr. Canale and his subordinate.”

A report in The New York Times said that $4 million in the group’s profit and loss statement was unaccounted for. A spokesman for BNP says, “We are cooperating fully with the government’s ongoing investigation of the parties involved.”

BNP, one of the largest banks in Europe, has 2,200 retail banks in France and operates in over 85 countries around the world.