BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, has appointed two co-heads of its global wealth management operations, as part of sweeping changes to the bank’s management structure.

BNP Paribas has appointed two co-heads of its global wealth management operations, as part of sweeping changes to the French bank’s management structure.

Vincent Lecomte, latterly chief operating officer for wealth management, and Sofia Merlo, formerly in charge of private banking in France, will report to the former sole head, Jacques d'Estais, who has become deputy COO of the bank.

Merlo joined what was then Paribas in the mid-1980s and she has also worked as sales director for wealth management in France. Lecomte joined last year from French online trader Cortal Consors, where he was deputy chief executive.

Merlo's and Lecomte's areas of responsibility will be defined in January, according to a spokesperson for the company.

Lecomte and Merlo will also report to François Villeroy de Galhau, who was appointed COO of the group and head of domestic markets two weeks ago. In a spate of changes at the top at France’s largest bank which were announced in May and came into force at the beginning of the month, Jean-Laurent Bonnafé was named chief executive.

At that time Michel Pébereau stepped down as chairman after nearly 20 years' service. During his time at the helm, BNP Paribas went from being a traditional French lender to a major international player, including in wealth management, and has been one of the Western firms to have made moves to break into the Asian market.

However, the bank has been going through a rough patch of late as a result of its exposure to the European sovereign debt-ridden countries. Last month, it emerged that wealth and asset management pre-tax income at BNP Paribas had fallen to €195 million (around $254 million) in the three months to 30 September, compared with €250 million in the same period a year ago and €290 million in the previous quarter.

Fitch downgraded the French giant yesterday to A+, as part a broad review of the ratings for the largest global trading and universal banks. Eight other European banks were also downgraded.