(Adds BNP Paribas executive comments) PARIS, March 11 (Reuters) - French bank BNP Paribas said on Thursday it plans to take full control of equity brokerage unit Exane to further bolster its European equity business after buying Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage in 2019. BNP Paribas, which aims to raise its stake in Exane to 100% from 50%, said it expects to have a fully integrated equity business next year. “The ambition is really to be one of the premier equity players in Europe,” BNP Paribas’ head of corporate and institutional banking Yann Gerardin told Reuters, adding the lender was currently the third biggest corporate and investment bank in Europe. “The objective is to have a highly operational BNP Paribas equity house to enter a new phase in 2022”, Gerardin, who is also BNP Paribas’ deputy chief operating officer, said. The Paris-based lender did not disclose the financial details of the planned deal but said it would buy the 50% stake in Exane it doesn’t already own from current and former staff. Gerardin said he expected to get approvals from regulators and staff representatives in the second quarter to kick off the integration early in the third quarter. “With a better integration of Exane’s teams into the group, our ability to develop flow activities will be significantly enhanced”, Gerardin said. The bank is also betting on revenue synergies between the equity business and prime brokerage. “We believe the deal is a sensible one as it will potentially give BNP Paribas more opportunities in the broader equity business, but it is small in size relative to the group”, analysts at Citi said. Shares in BNP Paribas were down 1.08% at 1138 GMT. (Reporting by Matthieu Protard; Additional reporting by Tommy Lund; Editing by Jason Neely and Jan Harvey)