BNP Paribas Expands Depositary Bank Services to Switzerland

BNP Paribas Securities Services has expanded its depositary banking business to the Swiss market.
By Janet Du Chenne(59204)
BNP Paribas Securities Services has expanded its depositary banking business to the Swiss market.

The bank’s asset manager and asset owner clients with funds domiciled in Switzerland will be offered depositary services such as cash monitoring, oversight and safekeeping of assets.

The Swiss launch adds to BNP Paribas’ growing depositary banking network, which has extended to the U.K. and the Netherlands in recent months. The network now covers 12 fund domiciles in Europe – as well as three in Asia Pacific. BNP Paribas also acquired the depositary banking business of Commerzbank in Germany, completing the acquisition in November 2013.

The bank, which today has EUR 900 billion in assets under depositary, is benefitting from the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which stipulates that all non-UCITS and alternative investment funds in Europe must appoint a depositary bank to provide safekeeping, cash monitoring, and oversight of assets.

Garrick Smith, head of BNP Paribas Securities Services Switzerland, said: “This new expansion is the result of an increasing desire from our clients to consolidate their operational services, including depotbank and custody services, in Switzerland. We have already won our first depotbank mandate in the market, from one of the biggest independent fund of fund managers in Switzerland.” He continued, “With this expansion we underline our commitment to the Swiss market.“

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