Geely Automobile Holdings Limited ("Geely Automobile") and BNP Paribas Personal Finance announced their signing of an cooperative agreement to establish a joint venture company to provide the Chinese market with auto financing services.

The registered capital of the joint venture company amounts to 900 million yuan, of which 720 million yuan is provided by Geely Automobile taking up 80 percent of the total shares in the company. BNP Paribas Personal Finance provides 180 million yuan accounting for 20 percent of the total shares. The establishment of the joint venture company has yet to be approved by relevant regulatory authorities such as the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

After the approval, the auto financing company will provide auto financing products and services in China, including wholesale financing solutions for auto dealers to purchase cars and operate necessary facilities, as well as retail financing to end-customers.

Li Donghui, Vice President and CFO of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Executive Director of Geely Automobile said, "We are excited to cooperate with BNP Paribas Personal Finance to establish this auto financing company. As China's automobile market continues to grow at a rapid pace, an increasing number of customers are looking for new and innovative ways to finance their auto purchases. Geely Automobile is willing to offer safe, professional and convenient auto financing services to our customers and meanwhile help our distributors to improve their operating efficiency and maximize their revenue. We believe that combining the long-term accumulated experience and expertise of BNP Paribas Personal Finance with Geely Automobile's access to customers and distributors will help bring sound and rapid development for the joint venture company based on mutual benefits and win-win results, while catering to the increasing needs of customers."

Thierry Laborde, CEO of BNP Paribas Personal Finance said, "BNP Paribas Personal Finance offers a full range of personal financing services, which spread more than 20 countries and cities. The participation of BNP Paribas Personal Finance in China's auto financing sector represents our more commitment to China's auto financial market. We are quite impressed with Geely's solid strength in the automobile industry and its global vision. We look forward to working together with Geely to bring auto financing services to Chinese customers."

Eric Raynaud, Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Asia Pacific stressed: "This partnership is another key milestone of the Group's development plan in the Asia Pacific region and especially in China following our announcement in July 2013 to establish a 50:50 equity joint venture with Bank of Beijing in the insurance sector. China is a key market where we will provide our clients with such services as corporate and investment banking and wealth management through our wholly-owned subsidiary BNP Paribas China Ltd. We have also enjoyed a partnership with Bank of Nanjing in retail and commercial banking since 2005, and with Haitong Securities through HFT Investment Management in asset management since 2003."