Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris
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| Limited liability | |
| Industry | Banking |
| Founded | 7 March 1848 |
| Defunct | 1966 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
The Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CNEP), formerly the Comptoir d'escompte de Paris (CEP) was one of four banks that combined to form BNP Paribas.
The CNEP was created by decree on 7 March 1848 by the Provisional Government of the French Second Republic. It was founded in response to the financial shock caused by the revolution of February 1848. The upheaval destroyed the old credit system, which was already struggling to provide sufficient capital to meet the demands of the railway boom and the resulting growth of industry. The CEP grew steadily in France and overseas, although in 1889 there was a crisis in which it was temporarily placed in receivership. In 1945 the CNEP was nationalized, and in 1966 merged with BNCI to form the Banque National de Paris (BNP), which in turn was merged with Paribas in 2000 to form BNP Paribas.
The French Revolution of February 1848 caused a general failure of confidence in paper assets such as shares, bonds and bank deposits, and a rush to convert these assets to gold and silver. The government was forced into emergency measures such as suspending payment on maturing treasury bonds, closing the stock market, forcing acceptance of banknotes and restricting the amount of withdrawals of saving deposits from the Bank of France. However, the government would not take action to help protect private enterprises and investors. Most of the private banks created during the July Monarchy were forced to close, and as a result there was no longer an efficient way to convert letters of credit into cash. There were even rumors that the Rothschilds were in serious difficulty and were preparing to liquidate. It was in this context that the CNEP was created.
Louis-Antoine Garnier-Pagès was appointed Minister of Finance on 7 March 1848 and that evening published a decree that created the first "comptoirs d'escompte", or discount counters for credit notes, in Paris and other commercial centers. The organization of the Comptoir national d'escompte de la ville de Paris was defined in a decree of 8 March 1848. The book publisher A. L. Pagnerre, one of the organizers of the Campagne des banquets that had led to the revolution of February 1848, was appointed the bank's first Director and chairman of the board. Pagnerre was appointed on 9 March and the statutes of the comptoir was established by decree on 10 March. Although he resigned in June of that year, Pagnerre established the main innovative principles that were to guide the bank's future operations.
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