Investigation opens into possible insider trading at BNP Paribas

France’s national financial prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into possible insider trading at BNP Paribas, the country’s biggest bank.

The investigation started in early November and it’s too soon to determine which individuals may be involved, said a spokesman for the Paris-based prosecutor’s office.

Prosecutors could drop the investigation if they don’t find any wrongdoing.

BNP Paribas was fined a record $8.97 billion in June for violating US trade sanctions on countries including Iran, Sudan and Cuba.

French weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported that prosecutors are examining stock sales by senior BNP officials during 2013, a time when US authorities were looking into the bank’s dealings with banned countries. The paper didn’t say where it got the information.

Chairman Baudouin Prot, his predecessor Michel Pebereau and co-chief operating oficer Philippe Bordenave sold almost 290,000 shares amounting to about €13 million euros during 2013, according to disclosures in the bank's annual report required by the Autorite des Marches Financieres, the French market regulator.

BNP spokeswoman Julia Boyce declined to comment, as did an official for the Paris-based AMF.

Shares of BNP declined 0.2 per cent to €48.29 in early morning trading in Paris on Wednesday.

Bloomberg