BNP Paribas Securities Services has implemented a mandate from Harvest Global Investments to launch an emerging market fund investing in Mongolia.
Harvest, Chinas second largest asset manager with $37 billion in assets under management, appointed BNP Paribas as global custodian, fund administrator and transfer agent in support of the managers Asian Frontier Equity Fund.
The fund went live in late 2011 and has since been investing in Mongolia, which is set to become the fastest growing economy in world. In so doing, Harvest became both the first Chinese and the first cross-border asset manager to take direct investment exposure in the country.
BNP Paribas operating model gave Harvest direct access to the market while ring-fencing their assets through a trustee account opened at the Mongolian Securities Clearing House and Central Depository.
Commenting on the development, Choy Peng Wah, CEO of Harvest Global Investments said: Launching our Mongolia fund was a key part of our strategy and we are pleased with the work done by BNP Paribas in enabling that.
The structure that they created was innovative enough to enable us to invest directly into the Mongolian market, with the reassurance afforded by their expertise in Asia, and robust yet flexible global custody platform.
Lawrence Au, head of Asia-Pacific at BNP Paribas Securities Services said: We took a collaborative approach to this challenge with Harvest, and are pleased to have played our part in animating a key element of their global growth strategy.
Furthermore, Mongolia is an exciting frontier market whose economy is forecast to grow by 8% this year, and we are pleased to be the first and currently the only global custodian able to offer direct access to the Mongolian market.
(JDC)