BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions announced the nomination of Tristan Watkins as Country Supervisor. He reports to Olivier de Ryck, Head of Country Supervision and joins the Executive Committee of BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.
Watkins, a 51-year-old British citizen, ensures the supervision of BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions’ activities in the United States, Canada, Italy, Iberia (Spain and Portugal) and Romania. He also becomes a member of the Executive Committee.
Before being named Country Supervisor, Watkins spent three years as the Executive Vice-President of the Equipment Finance Division at Bank of the West, BNP Paribas Group’s sister entity in the U.S. In close cooperation with the BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions teams, he managed the division’s overall strategy and business activities.
“Tristan’s international experience and knowledge of the European and North American markets are precious assets for BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions and I am glad to welcome him back within the corporate team,” said Wolfgang Pinner, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Country Coverage and Chief Data Officer.
Watkins graduated from the Neoma Business School (1990) and began his career at BNP Paribas in 1990 as Deputy Branch Manager in a branch of the retail banking network. He then held various positions over the next 12 years, ranging from Risk to Mergers and Acquisitions. In 2003, he moved to Arval UK, the car leasing specialist of the BNP Paribas Group where he stayed for two years as the Head of Pricing and Risk.
In 2005, he joined BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions as a Strategic Account Manager, before being appointed Head of the Technology Solutions International Business Line where he led the team of Global Account Managers and managed the division’s growth plans. He then moved to the UK in order to take over as Country Manager of BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK. He supervised all local functions as well as the commercial activities linked to agriculture and construction equipment.
As previously reported by Equipment Finance Advisor, Bank of the West appointed Ken Turner as the Head of Equipment Finance Division (EFD), taking the place of Watkins.