PARIS (Reuters) -BNP Paribas has signed a deal to buy HSBC's private banking unit in Germany as it continues to expand its footprint in wealth management, the French lender said on Monday.

The deal, which BNP said should be closed in the second quarter of 2025, will push the bank's assets under management over the mark of 40 billion euros ($44.64 billion).

"This acquisition will allow us to consolidate our position as the top player in private banking in the eurozone," Vincent Lecomte, a BNP executive, said in a statement.

Focusing on Asia where it has the most scale, HSBC in recent years has also slashed other businesses in Western markets including the US, France, and Canada, shrinking a once globe-spanning empire that led it to market itself as "the world's local bank".

($1 = 0.8961 euros)

(Writing by Makini Brice;Editing by Tassilo Hummel/Sudip Kar-Gupta)