BNP Paribas hired Govind Shanbogue and Sandip Dhillon as managing directors in its UK advisory business. Shanbogue is joining from Santander, while Dhillon will move from UBS. The appointments expand the French bank’s senior UK advisory team as it builds its mergers and acquisitions franchise.
Shanbogue will join during the week of 14 October and focus on advising financial sponsors. He was a managing director in Santander’s sponsor M&A team. Dhillon is due to join in November after 19 years at UBS and will cover both corporate and sponsor-backed transactions.
ADVISORY TEAM EXPANDS
The two appointments take BNP Paribas’s senior UK advisory team to six. They follow the arrival of Alex Thomas in June as the bank continued to add experienced dealmakers. The build-out gives the lender additional coverage across private-equity sponsors and corporate clients.
Financial News reported that Shanbogue had also worked at Goldman Sachs and that Dhillon covered a broad range of sectors at UBS. It said the hires strengthen BNP Paribas’s financial-sponsors coverage after recent departures. Reuters separately confirmed the appointments and their joining timetable.
COMPETITION FOR DEAL TALENT
The recruitment comes as UK deal activity has recovered and banks compete for senior mandates and staff. Financial News reported that UK mergers and acquisitions totalled $210.9 billion during the first nine months of 2026, 66% more than the total recorded in 2025. It also said BNP Paribas ranked third for investment-banking fees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a 4.9% share.
The immediate milestones are Shanbogue’s start this week and Dhillon’s arrival next month. Their contribution will be measured by new sponsor and corporate mandates rather than the appointments alone. BNP Paribas will also need to integrate the hires with its existing UK team as competition for transactions remains strong.