BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR) aims to boost its investment banking operations in the Netherlands and Germany as part of a plan to expand the business in Europe, targeting 3,000 new clients by 2012, the French bank's senior managers said at a presentation Thursday.

Around one-quarter to one-third of these new investment banking clients will be in Germany and Netherlands, BNP Paribas said, citing their geographical proximity, the fact several international companies have their European operations in the Netherlands and the large number of mid-sized German firms operating in the export business.

The reason behind the push in Europe is the wealth of the continent, which is the world's third richest with nominal gross domestic product in 2009 equalling a third of global GDP, BNP Paribas said. In addition, 190 of the top 500 largest corporations measured by revenue are headquartered in Europe, BNP Paribas added.

The move won't require the opening of more offices in these countries, said Alain Papiasse, the bank's head of investment banking operations.

The cost of the investment for the expansion in Europe is estimated at EUR100 million in three years, Papiasse added.

"We are already in several cities in Germany, so we don't need to be in smaller cities," he said. "In the Netherlands we may be opening one or two new offices."

Papiasse said that Germany has several mid-sized companies that export overseas, but which aren't adequately supported by domestic banks.

Several regional German lenders were pushed to the brink of bankruptcy during the financial crisis, only surviving through government support.

"BNP Paribas' services in Germany should eventually be considered like the services of a local bank," said Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, BNP Paribas' chief operating officer.

BNP Paribas hopes to leverage its strong position in the European corporate market, through its presence in key countries such as France, Italy, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as Poland and Turkey, to become "the bank to talk to" for companies considering expansion in Europe.

The French bank operates a network of 150 investment banking offices in 23 European countries. As a result, it expects to focus on multinationals wanting to set up operations in Europe or local units of large companies that are already established in European countries.

Speaking on the sidelines of the presentation in Brussels, Bonnafe, who oversaw the integration of Italian lender BNL in 2006 and Belgium's Fortis in 2009, said he expects BNP Paribas' operations in Italy to continue to grow organically. He didn't exclude looking at potential acquisitions if interesting assets became available for sale.