National Australia Bank (NAB) is planning to set up a credit unit in Paris.
The lender has already submitted an application seeking regulatory approval from the French prudential supervision and resolution authority.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Once the approval is in place, NAB Paris will operate as a licensed subsidiary of the Australian lender.
Primarily, the unit will offer wholesale banking and investment services in France and other European locations.
NAB chief customer officer of Corporate and Institutional Banking David Gall said: “Our Australian and New Zealand clients rely on our local knowledge and relationships to navigate the European market so we’re continuing to respond to this need.
“Investors are looking for opportunities, particularly in the infrastructure sector, where NAB is among the top 10 banks globally by project finance deal value and transaction numbers.
“Around 140 Australian companies are already present in France, employing 40,000 people. They span a range of services sectors, including banking and finance, healthcare, information and telecommunications, and transport and logistics.”
Last week, NAB was reportedly planning to raise up to A$1.4bn ($959.7m).
The new fundraising, second in the month, will help the bank to improve core capital ratio and fulfil key regulatory deadline early next year.
Currently, NAB has a ratio of 10.38%, below the required level of 10.5%.
