BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced the implementation of a mandate from Harvest Global Investments to launch an emerging market fund investing in Mongolia. BNP is the first global custodian to support foreign investments in this Asian frontier market.
Harvest, China’s second largest asset manager, appointed BNP Paribas as global custodian, fund administrator and transfer agent in support of the manager’s Asian Frontier Equity Fund.
The fund went live in late 2011 and has since been investing in Mongolia. In so doing, Harvest became both the first Chinese and the first cross-border asset manager to take direct investment exposure in the country.
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.”
BNP Paribas created a unique operating model, giving Harvest direct access to the market. Using a trustee account opened at the Mongolian Securities Clearing House and Central Depository, BNP Paribas’ structure ring-fences Harvest’s assets thereby protecting the underlying investors.
Lawrence Au, head of Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas Securities Services and a member of the bank's executive committee, said, "Mongolia is an exciting frontier market whose economy is forecast to grow by eight per cent 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.”
