Philippe Delpal, President of BNP Paribas Vostok Bank, CEO of CETELEM Russia, is telling us about values which he believes in. We are talking about three of them which are in his opinion the most important ones: responsibility, ethics and transparency.
1. What are your values?
There are lots of values but let's take three of them as example: to be responsible, to have strong personal ethics in your everyday life and to be transparent.
2. What does "being responsible" mean to you?
I see my job of CEO and Chairman of the bank as being a stake holder in the organization. I can take local decisions and I'm fully responsible towards my shareholder. Being responsible it's also a capacity to take a decision. I've used to say that it's better to take a decision - good or bad, than to take no decision. Time is critical.
3. Do you have an example about responsibility?
When we have started Cetelem Greenfield project we had a first discussion within the team whether we have to start business in Krasnodar or Rostov. I've immediately stopped this type of discussions saying "we will be in two cities as soon as possible. So now let's decide in one minute and vote for one of two cities". It was also about a fast decision taking.
4. What is the second type of values?
Transparency. For example, in Cetelem and BNP Paribas premises walls are made from glass, even in my office. I have nothing to hide from my staff. It's not just an image, it also a way of life.
5. Can you comment on ethics?
I am a part of the big international bank putting a lot of attention on that specific value: compliance and ethics. We want to build long-lasting business, so we never accept money-laundering, corruption, or things like that. The value is very strong.
6. What does it mean in everyday life?
First, training of the staff. And it's the key meaning for me that I'm ready to disclose on a public level every decision, every action I take. If you start to do things you don't want to talk about this means that you want to hide something and you are not so proud of what has been done.
7. How do you make people live these values?
You need to be tough. If you accept one bad example in the organization than everybody will compare his personal situation to what happened. That's why even small cases have as a consequence an immediate reaction.
8. What do you think about making business in Russia?
Today in Russia you can do business in a normal way and that's why I'm running the business in Russia for BNP Paribas and Cetelem. It is a reason why our Group has decided to invest in Russia despite the turmoil on the financial market as well.
Prepared by Liza Barzova, Good2Work Intern, on November 11, 2008
