BNP Paribas has announced that it has completed its acquisition of brokerage firm Sharekhan, a deal that was first announced in July 2015. The transaction has now been finalised after having received approvals from all relevant regulatory authorities.

Tarun Shah, CEO and Director of Sharekhan, has announced his retirement. Jaideep Arora, Director, who has been with Sharekhan since its founding in 2000, has been appointed CEO with immediate effect, BNP Paribas said in a press statement.

ShareKhan, among the first truly online retail broking firms, has over 1.4 million clients. With this acquisition, Sharekhan becomes a subsidiary of BNP Paribas S.A. and will be part of the “Personal Investors” segment, BNP Paribas’ business line dedicated to digital banking and investment services that serves 2.9 million individual customers in India, Germany, Austria and Spain.

In June, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board rejected BNP Paribas’ proposal to acquire Sharekhan, without stating a reason. In September, the acquisition was approved with news reports suggesting the deal would bring in foreign investment of Rs 2,060 crore.

Beatrice Cossa Dumurgier, Global Head of Personal Investors, BNP Paribas, said, “With the completion of this acquisition, we are pleased to welcome colleagues and clients of Sharekhan into the BNP Paribas Group. Building on Sharekhan’s position of leadership, we will work towards making Sharekhan the preferred savings and investment partner for individual customers in India.

BNP Paribas is already present in the Indian retail broking space, through Kochi-based Geojit BNP Paribas in which it has a 32.6 per cent stake.

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