Chinese Netizens Call for Boycott of BNP Paribas

Some internet users in China are calling for a boycott of BNP Paribas following the actions of one of its employees in Hong Kong. This could slow the lender’s expansion plans.

Last week, Chinese messaging service Weibo was filled with accusations that an unidentified employee of the French bank had posted messages on Facebook calling for independence for Hong Kong. Although the bank has since issued a statement expressing apologies, some of China’s internet users are still not placated.

Since the bank that is making money from China and did not take any further action, we have to boycott it, posted one user of Weibo, who was quoted. The post had generated more than 4,000 likes on Wednesday evening.

Other netizens are upset that the French bank refers to Hong Kong and Taiwan as «independent countries» on its website. Last month, several other companies, including Swarovski, Versace, Coach, and Givenchy apologized for doing the same.

In a statement issued last Friday, BNP apologized for «the offense caused by a social media post that was expressed on one of our employees’ personal accounts» and added that the views expressed in the post do not reflect the views of BNP Paribas.

BNP is seeking to expand its China operations to include brokerage, futures trading, and wealth management ventures. Just last month, it was granted approval to underwrite all types of company notes in the interbank bond market.