In the wake of announcing plans to double IT spending over the next three years, BNP Paribas has moved to strengthen its relationship with Silicon Valley's Plug and Play incubation initiative.
The French bank has already co-operated with Plug and Play on an acceleration programme last year via its Bank of the West subsidiary.
The new partnership will see Plug and Play opens its doors to BNP Paribas subsidiaries worldwide and kick off a fintech and insurtech acceleration initiative in Paris.
The bank will join with other major corporations across Europe - such as Daimler in Stuttgart, Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Axel Springer in Berlin - in applying the Plug and Play approach to innovation on its home turf.
The bank is looking for an initial batch of ten startups to join the three-month programme, which will be run twice yearly and include all the usual accelerator benefits of mentorship, business development and fundraising opportunities.
Jacques d’Estais, Group Deputy COO, says the deal will build a bridge between and Silicon Valley and Paris.
"We are strengthening our positions in the start-up ecosystem through this new partnership," he says. "It will enable us to further benefit from the global expertise of Plug and Play and create unique links between us and the European and Californian start-up.”
The move comes just days after the bank committed to a EUR3 billion digital outlay over the next three years to build the 'bank of the future'.
Says d'Estais: "At BNP Paribas, we believe in open innovation as a strong driver to transform ourselves towards building the bank of the future and providing our customers with high-value products and services. This new step in our partnership with Plug and Play will complement our current programmes, such as the Fintech and Corporate Accelerator by l’Atelier BNP Paribas which allowed strategic investments in 2016."