Paribas buys into insurance

BNP Paribas, France's largest listed bank, has taken over Dutch bank ING's stake in ING-BOB Insurance Co Ltd, as ING withdrew its share in the joint venture with Bank of Beijing. The announcement was made by the Bank of Beijing on Monday.

The deal, which has yet to be formally approved by regulators, gives BNP a slice of the world's No 2 insurance market and offers a route to cross-selling with other parts of the French bank, which recently raised its stake in existing partner, Bank of Nanjing.

ING-BOB Insurance is a Dalian-based company.