2018 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT AND ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT

2018 Registration document and annual fi nancial report - BNP PARIBAS112

2 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND INTERNAL CONTROL

Internal Control

RELATIONS WITH THE STATUTORY AUDITORS Each year, as part of their statutory assignment, the Statutory Auditors issue a report in which they give their opinion concerning the consistency and fairness of the consolidated fi nancial statements of the BNP Paribas Group as well as the annual financial statements of the Group s companies. The Statutory Auditors also carry out limited reviews on the closing of the half-yearly accounts, and specifi c tasks in relation to the quarterly accounts.

Thus, as part of their statutory mission :

■ they examine any significant changes in accounting standards and present their opinions to the Financial Statements Committee concerning the accounting choices with a material impact;

■ they present their conclusions to the Finance Functions in the entities/ business lines/divisions and Group Finance Functions, and in particular any observations and recommendations to improve certain aspects of the internal control system that contributes to the preparation of the accounting and fi nancial information that they reviewed during their audit.

FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION (PRESS RELEASES, SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS, ETC.) Financial communication for publication is written by the Investor Relations and Financial Information Department within Group Finance. It is directed at retail and institutional shareholders, fi nancial analysts and rating agencies, and presents the Group s different activities, explains its results and describes its development strategy, while maintaining the fi nancial information homogenous with that used at an internal level.

The team, which reports to Executive Management and the Chief Financial Offi cer, devises the format in which fi nancial information is published by the BNP Paribas Group. It works with the divisions and functions to prepare the presentation of fi nancial results, strategic projects and specifi c topics. It distributes them to the fi nancial community.

The Statutory Auditors are associated with the validation and review phase of communications relating to the closing of quarterly, half-yearly or annual fi nancial statements, before their presentation to the Financial Statements Committee and to the Board of directors, who approve them.