The Lifetime Achievement Award was
incorporated into the inaugural Risk awards in 2000, to recognise an individual
who has made an outstanding contribution to the activities Risk Magazine covers
– including derivatives, risk management, quantitative finance and regulation –
throughout their career. The award was presented on Wednesday evening at Risk’s
annual event in London.
Risk magazine’s profile of Yann Gérardin noted the significant achievements of his career:
“It might seem difficult for someone working
in one of the 10 largest banks in the world by assets to develop an
entrepreneurial mindset, but Gérardin’s debut at Banque Nationale de Paris
(BNP) in 1987 was in an unusually autonomous role. He was hired in 1987 to set
up an equity options business from scratch.
Privatisation in 1993 sparked a new strategic plan, which included a
targeted acquisition in the US to grow the equity options business. Gérardin
led the search, and identified boutique options trader Cooper Neff, which was
snapped up in 1994. What followed in the next decade is still a remarkable
transformation, even from today’s perspective when the dominance of French
banks in equity derivatives is somewhat taken for granted.”
Risk continued:
“Following massive central bank and government
intervention in the final quarter of 2008, many investment banks returned to
hiring mode during 2009, in anticipation that a strong market rally would help
revenues recover. Gérardin’s analysis was that a round of post-crisis
regulation and higher capital requirements would substantially constrain the
balance sheets of the major dealers, to an extent that could not be offset by
any rebound in revenues. This prompted him to impose a complete change of
strategy on his division, including cost-cutting and shrinking risk-weighted
assets and funding needs. In the end,
the transformation left the bank in a position of strength to comply with Basel
2.5 from 2011, and coincidentally left it better prepared than peers to cope
when the Eurozone crisis heated up in 2010 and 2011. By 2012, Gérardin’s
division was able to begin taking back market share, going on the acquisition
path just when other banks were being forced to head for the exits.”
Yann Gérardin, Head of CIB, BNP Paribas said:
“It’s an honour to receive this award from
Risk Magazine. The credit however is not
mine – instead it belongs to the BNP Paribas teams I have worked with over the
years. Whilst proud of our collective
accomplishments, the ‘past is prologue’; our focus is firmly on the future, on
continuing to transform our business, and – most importantly – on supporting
our clients.”
The bank is also pleased to announce that the
BNP Paribas CIB Portfolio Management team won this year’s award for Credit
portfolio manager of the year.