Interview Antoine Sire, Head of Engagement AT BNP Paribas

A leader in sustainable finance, the BNP Paribas group responded to the call for solidarity launched by Aviation Sans Frontières as part of the Covid mission during the first wave of the epidemic.

This collaboration gave rise to a meeting in July 2020 between our Chairman and Antoine Sire, Director of Engagement at BNP Paribas. We offer you some passages of the exchange on the themes of societal commitment, responsible growth and the relationship between associations and companies.

Gérard Feldzer: “Antoine Sire, it is not easy to introduce yourself: your qualifications are numerous, from Sciences Po and Law to important responsibilities in banking, particularly within the BNP Paribas group. But you are also known to the general public for your activities in the cinema, the radio or even as a writer. In addition, you are passionate about new technologies. How do you do ? What's your secret? »

Antoine Sire: My secret is that I like to tell stories, more good stories, that is to say when they are positive. It must be said that the more we help each other, the more we change reality; I therefore like positive and concrete stories. Indeed, being of service to others is a good way to achieve this.

G.F.: Are banking and money compatible with today's society, which seeks to be in the new paradigm, in the environment, the social, the balance, the values?

A.S: It must be said that compared to other types of short-term consumer goods businesses, banking is rather long-term and therefore, by nature, quite attentive to its ecosystem. (…) In 2005, BNP Paribas became the leading private employer in Seine-St-Denis. Many activities around the world, including IT in particular, are managed from the head office in Seine-Saint-Denis and our commitment in this area has only grown over the years. This is how we helped the ADIE (Association for the right to economic initiative) to set up its system of agencies in the neighborhoods and we created a "suburbs" project which gives power to our directors of agencies, on the national territory, to support local associations which help with social ties, economic development and education. After 15 years, this project will have assisted 750 associations. Another project, specific to the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, called the “Odyssey youth programme”, promotes travel by young people during school holidays, opening up new and enriching horizons for them.

G.F.: In your responsibilities at BNP Paribas and when we listen to you, we hear you talk about social responsibilities, the environment, diversity, human rights, are these political subjects? Would you like to do politics?

A.S. I have a lot of admiration for politicians, such as De Gaulle, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, who made things happen. But in the political fight today, in the society of the spectacle it must be said, you need patience and an ability to emerge in the face of your own allies, I do not feel up to it. In business, on the other hand, the relationships are clearer; there are certainly egos too but much less exacerbated.

G.F: In any case, in your commitment, we always find an attachment to the notion of solidarity and that is how we found ourselves. You have supported Aviation Sans Frontières in the fight against Covid19. Why ?

A.S. Because you came and you presented the work of ASF in a rational way, proposed concrete solutions to urgently transport health personnel from one region to another in the territory and even in Europe, with the awareness the role that aviation can play in humanitarian action, as an aviation enthusiast but also an ecologist who respects nature. On certain fights, in particular the feminist fight, we do not realize enough of our debt vis-à-vis aviation. It should be remembered that the great feminists of the 1930s and 1940s, whose names were Hélène Boucher, Amelia Earhart, Jacqueline Auriol, Amy Johnson, were aviators and that the conquest of the skies represented an ideal of which Humanity dreamed.

G.F: So you joined the aeronautical family with all its values, you helped us accomplish a delicate task, at the worst times of the COVID-19 crisis. A solidarity that will not stop at a single event like COVID19, this solidarity must continue and you are here for that. Thank you.