Michel Pébereau

Michel Pébereau (born 1942) studied at École Polytechnique and ENA, served as an inspector of finances and at the French Treasury, and then ran Crédit Commercial de France, which he took through privatisation in 1987.

Pébereau became chairman and chief executive of BNP in 1993 and steered its privatisation that October. In 1999, after Société Générale bid for Paribas, he launched BNP's competing offers for both banks. BNP failed to win Société Générale but took control of Paribas, and the merged BNP Paribas was completed in May 2000. Pébereau was chairman and CEO of the new group until 2003, when Baudouin Prot became CEO, and stayed on as chairman until 2011. He chaired the board when BNP Paribas completed its takeover of Fortis Bank in May 2009.