BNP Paribas, which last week froze €1.6 billion ($2.2bn) worth of funds citing problems in the sub-prime market, says that its exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage market is limited and the losses from it will be manageable.
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According to Alain Papiasse, head of asset management and services, BNP Paribas, the French bank has not been too heavily involved in sub prime lendings. "The direct exposure to sub-prime appears limited and any losses should be manageable for the bank," he said adding, "The risk to quarterly earnings is zero," he added.

The fall on global stock exchanges in the recent past has been attributed to problems with the exposure of major banks to sub-prime debt.

Earlier, French finance minister Christine Lagarde said she would ask BNP's chief executive to explain how the bank manages sub-prime risk or risky loans to people with low credit records.

In an interview in the French daily Le Parisien, Lagarde said, "This is a brutal correction in markets that has its roots in the real estate submarket in the United States," and added, "There have been severe excesses over there in this area."