Why BNP Paribas Interview Questions

As one of the most guaranteed questions in the interview, you must research the company and why you see yourself at BNP Paribas. Finding unique or specific aspects of BNP Paribas that piqued your interest and demonstrated your fit is a plus.

For example, you might want to say:

“As a climate activist with prior experience in impact investing, I look up to BNP Paribas’s commitment to sustainability as it incorporates the “17 UN Sustainable Development Goals” as a compass for its corporate decisions.

As an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce, especially regarding representation, I also believe in the missions of MixCity and CulturAll as movements I will get behind and contribute to.”

The company wants to learn more about you and why finance became your career choice. Here, you should showcase your values, dedication, and reflective skills. Feel free to share if you have a story from when you were younger that piqued this interest.

Show how you can benefit others, whether your co-workers or BNP Paribas as a firm, through your experiences or approaches to financing or investment banking. Look beyond the numbers and never say you do this because of the money.

For example, you can start with something like:

“Since high school, I have delved into researching business performances by participating in our school’s Business Club. Soon, I began investing in companies through the stock market.”

Try to be as transparent as possible to demonstrate self-awareness, which is a trait employers look for in their applicants. In turn, they can also better grasp what type of worker you are while learning about your personality.

Of course, avoid exposing extremely negative characteristics that could affect your career or job. Examples like time management issues, a dislike for group efforts, or the tendency to get frustrated upon making mistakes are damaging weaknesses you should avoid.

Instead, despite weaknesses, qualities like perfectionism and overworking also convey a positive image of you as a candidate.

For example, you can say:

“Sometimes, I like to strive for flawlessness as a perfectionist. Doing so pushes me very hard, which may cause unnecessary self-dissatisfaction. owever, I'm working on finding the right balance and being more open to learning from my mistakes.

Whether encountering an emotional customer, working under pressure, or overcoming a challenge, this question assesses your leadership, ability to perform with stress, and communication skills.

Employers want to hire applicants who demonstrate all those qualities, as investment banking will inevitably encounter stressful, challenging, and emotional situations. In addition, as with many other companies, BNP emphasizes good customer relationships, which this question can testify to.

For example, you can say:

“As a financial analyst in my current company, my team and I came across a major error as we worked on our deal. Having calculated the numbers from the wrong financial statement, we were frustrated as one co-worker was responsible for mishandling the document.

However, despite the frustration, I recognized the importance of learning from mistakes and how blaming others does not resolve the situation.

Therefore, after proposing and leading a quick meeting to discuss how we can correct this, we forgave our teammate and established a system to prevent this from happening again.”

The intention behind this question is for the employer to see if you have a plan for the future. From your answer, they would know your motivation and goals that may or may not align with the company’s values and objectives, potentially influencing your suitability for the role.

For example, you may envision:

“I aim to become an entrepreneur and business owner within the software industry, specifically subscription management. By understanding the process of underwriting and financial evaluations for investments, I hope to apply these skills to my future enterprise.”

When approaching this type of question, be concise and clear. You can memorize the equation and quickly summarize the calculation to find the necessary values when undergoing a DCF valuation.

You can memorize the equation and quickly summarize the calculation to find the necessary values when undergoing a DCF valuation. 

For example, you can answer:

“A DCF valuation determines how much a company will likely make over a 5 to 20-year period. By finding the terminal value using unlevered free cash flows and discount rates with calculated projections, you can use this equation to find the enterprise value.

EV = [FCF1/ (1 + r)¹] + [FCF2/ (1 + r)2] + .... + [FCFn/ (1 + r)ⁿ] + TV/ (1 + r)ⁿ

Where

• EV = enterprise value 
• FCFn = unlevered free cash flows by the end of time n 
• TV = terminal value 
• R = weighted-average cost of capital (WACC).”

This question tests your awareness of the banking industry, but please answer accordingly to the industries BNP Paribas is in. Some examples of risks you may include are fraud, operational failure, inflation risk, etc.

Also, you can include some ideas or plans you hope to bring to the table to tackle these issues if you are applying for a higher position.

For example, you may believe that:

“I think operational failure and fraud are prominent risks we face. With the increasing reliance on data information and workflow from online platforms, access to confidential information or technical errors could detrimentally harm productivity and finance.

In addition, the situation at the Silicon Valley Bank also shows how inflation could lead to collapse. The rising interest rates, which affects liquidity and funding for many startups and new IPOs, caused significant losses in their bond portfolio and stock sale.”

A necessary skill to have in finance, risk management is a tool required for all applicants when allocating investments. Mentioning the steps you take to invest from your previous experiences at a company is crucial. Make sure to demonstrate some risk aversion.

Some things you can say include but are not limited to backup plans, diversification, the anticipation of potential losses, team communication, ample research and analysis with benchmarks, etc.

For example, you can say:

“I like to ensure that the portfolio always has an appropriate degree of diversification across multiple industries to minimize market risk. Therefore, when going through valuation metrics, I always confer with my team members to understand potential losses holistically.”

This general technical question assesses your ability to understand and evaluate a business. Make sure to mention some of the following: an executive summary, mission statement, objectives, market analysis, target audience, competitors, partners, forecasts, and financial information.

For example, you may state:

“A business plan should always have an executive overview of its services with insights on their target audience, market, and both direct and indirect competitors. Financial information, including past statistics and future projections, are also necessary.”

For this question, the four methods referred to are discounted cash flow DCF analysis, leveraged buyout LBO analysis, precedent transaction analysis, and comparative analysis.

There is no answer that is correct on all occasions, as it depends on the case. However, it usually follows the order below.

For example, you can say:

“I believe that 

1. Precedent transactions because companies typically pay a premium when acquiring another company.
2. Comparable analysis because it excludes factors like premiums and synergies.
3. DCF because it depends heavily on the relevant model and industry (depends on the company).
4. LBO because it tries to find the cheapest company value that will give the acquirer the highest exit value.”

This is another technical question they might ask to assess your knowledge of finance.

You can answer:

“The bond issuer can call the notes anytime from 3 months before the redemption at par value, which is the full price.”