BNP Paribas is the Nordic region’s best bank for large corporates on the strength of its deep local Nordic coverage combined with the full weight of a European corporate and investment banking platform.
The build-out has been deliberate. The Nordics were designated as a priority strategic region for the group in 2018. Within corporate and institutional banking (CIB), it now has more than 220 specialists on the ground. The initial strategic plan was delivered two years early, with ambitious plans to scale revenue in the upcoming years.
BNP Paribas’ strength is shown the range of transactions it supported in 2025 and 2026. For Ørsted, it was joint global coordinator on the DKK60 billion ($9.18 billion) rights issue and adviser in the firm’s €1.44 billion sale of its European onshore renewables business to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a transaction designed to strengthen the Danish wind farm operator’s balance sheet and sharpen its focus on core offshore wind activities.
BNP Paribas can support a board-level transaction, fund it, hedge it, connect it to global investors and align it with the transition agenda
BNP Paribas played a key financing role in DSV’s €14.3 billion all-cash acquisition of Schenker from Deutsche Bahn, one of the most transformative transactions in Danish corporate history. The deal creates a global transport and logistics leader with combined revenues of DKK293 billion and about 147,000 employees across more than 90 countries. BNP Paribas was one of the banks providing committed financing facilities for the transaction, supporting DSV’s plan to fund the acquisition through a mix of equity and debt while maintaining its credit ratings.
BNP Paribas played a central financing and capital markets role in Boliden’s acquisition of the Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal and the Zinkgruvan mine in Sweden from Lundin Mining. The transaction, worth $1.3 billion upfront with up to $150 million in contingent payments, strengthens Boliden’s internal supply of zinc and copper concentrate. BNP Paribas was one of the banks providing the bridge loan for the acquisition and acted as joint global coordinator for the planned share issue to refinance part of that bridge facility.
Treasury infrastructure
Beyond strong financing and capital markets momentum, the award also reflects operating capability. BNP Paribas is one of only two international banks with direct access to local clearing systems in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, allowing it to provide KID reference payments in Norway, Bankgiro payments in Sweden and BetalingsService direct debits in Denmark without intermediaries.
That local infrastructure is connected to cash management operations in 52 locations, access to over 40,000 BNP Paribas employees globally and part of a network of over 20,000 CIB clients.
Digital investment gives the model another dimension. The bank’s Centric and Cortex platforms bring cash management, trade finance, FX, reporting, market insight and multi-asset trading into one digital environment.
Built for corporate needs
BNP Paribas’ Nordic success also lies in how it has built a platform around the next generation of large corporate needs: strategic advice, cross-border financing, local treasury infrastructure, risk management, digital execution and transition finance.
That last point is especially important in the Nordics, where many of the region’s largest companies sit at the centre of Europe’s industrial, energy and climate transition. BNP Paribas has made sustainability a core part of its corporate banking proposition, not a separate overlay. Between 2022 and 2025, the group supported clients with €252 billion of low-carbon transition financing, 25% above its original €200 billion target. In 2025 alone, it issued €163 billion of sustainable loans and €144 billion of sustainable bonds.
For Nordic large corporates, that combination matters. BNP Paribas can support a board-level transaction, fund it, hedge it, connect it to global investors and align it with the transition agenda.
