BNP Paribas Securities Services has won a mandate from a Chinese asset manager to launch an emerging markets fund investing in Mongolia, which it says will make BNP Paribas the first global custodian to support foreign investments in the country.
Harvest Global Investments, which claims to be the second-largest asset manager in China with assets under management of $37 billion (€28 billion), launched its Asian Frontier Equity Fund last year. The company was the first Chinese firm to take direct investment exposure in Mongolia, said BNP Paribas.
Mongolia’s growth is being driven by mining of its rich copper, coal and gold deposits, among other minerals, and its economy is projected to expand 8% this year, according to the Asian Development Bank.
BNP Paribas said it had opened a trustee account with the Mongolian Securities Clearing House and Central Depository and would ring-fence Harvest’s assets to protect the underlying investors.
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