BNP Paribas Securities Services has agreed to take a stake in funds distribution platform Allfunds, one of the largest mutual fund platforms, and will use it as a preferred access to the fund market.
In a statement, the two firms said they intend to create one of the world’s leading fund and wealth-tech platforms.
“The demand for fund distribution platforms is growing and we want our clients to be able to take advantage of the opportunities they present,” said Patrick Colle, CEO, BNP Paribas Securities Services.
“This partnership will enable us to significantly enhance our offering, giving our clients access to a successful and fast-growing fund distribution platform. It will also enable us to accelerate the development of [our] next-generation fund distribution services and data analytics.”
Allfunds, which oversees €500 billion of fund assets in Europe, will take on several fund distribution mandates for BNP Paribas across its retail, wealth and insurance subsidiaries.
BNP Paribas will also transfer its Banca Corrispondente local paying agency activities in Italy, as well as some Italian transfer agency services, to Allfunds, where the bank said they will complement its existing range of local fund distribution services.
The transaction, which will see BNP Paribas Securities Services and BNP Paribas Asset Management receive together a strategic stake of 22.5% in Allfunds, is subject to regulatory approvals and required consultations.
The bank said the deal is expected to close before the end of 2020.
In a busy month for BNP Paribas Securities Services’ fund administration business, the bank also announced at the end of September that it had released a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) in a major move to digitise its business.
The financial services provider deployed 17 fund accounting APIs to automatically update clients’ systems with information specific to their business, such as net asset value (NAV) calculations and distribution, and settlement instructions and status.