BNP Paribas boss who loved open architecture

Prominent figures in the investment industry have been paying tribute to Gilles Glicenstein, head of asset management at French bank BNP Paribas, who built the group through acquisition and organic growth to become a major global funds player. The science fiction-loving Mr Glicenstein was a great believer in open architecture in the days when most of his staff were angry that he was allowing rival companies to get a slice of the group’s private banking pie. Mr Glicenstein, who lectured in economics at several elite educational establishments in Paris, was seen by many as a highly academic character. But his strength was using his intellect to restructure the group, make effective acquisitions, including Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, Fauchier Partners, and most recently Fortis Investments, and make sure that systems on paper worked well in practice. Many groups tried to implement the ‘Village of Boutiques’ structure, written by Amin Rajan, head of consultancy Create-Research. But few could make the theoretical idea work profitably in practice. Mr Glicenstein, however, saw the limitations of the model and understood how to adapt it. “He was able to marry the entrepreneurial part of individual boutiques with the oversight role of the mother ship,” says Professor Rajan. “He really understood that you cannot create a private equity model, where you hold boutiques as investments and let the teams just get on with it. If you do, they line their own pockets.” Towards the end of his life, one of Mr Glicenstein’s key concerns was how to react to the the merger between the funds divisions of two key rivals, French banks Société Générale and Crédit Agricole. He had his own work cut out integrating the Fortis Investments business into BNP Paribas Investment Partners, with the challenge of combining two very different cultures. “Gilles was particularly fond of working on acquisitions,” says Etienne Barel, who is in charge of co-ordinating the merger between the BNP Paribas and Fortis groups from Brussels. “In asset management, everybody is keen to buy anything at any price. But he was always more cautious than that, and would say that you shouldn’t buy something just because you want it.” Paul Burik, the former head of asset management strategy at Commerzbank, now running his own consultancy added: “Gilles always projected a deep sense of calm and had a deliberate manner which created a lasting impression on me. His professional success and stoic commitment surely must represent a triumph of the human spirit over private adversity.”