BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNPP SS), the asset servicing and custody unit of BNP Paribas, is making a strong case on why a major asset service provider should have a global, multi-local and multi-asset business model.

In 2017, BNPP SS posted 8% growth in revenues amounting to two billion euros (US$2.44 billion) and 9.4% growth in assets under management amounting to US$11.3 trillion. It is now ranked the fifth largest asset service provider in the world and the fastest growing in the past five years.

“Last year was a very special year for us, it was the best year ever. But more importantly, last year we became truly global. Our model is a bit different from most of our competitors in that we are global but we are also multi-local and multi-asset as well. When I say multi-local what I mean by that is we also deliver custody services locally in 27 countries like in Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Australia and the US,” says Patrick Colle, chief executive officer and global head of BNP Paribas Securities Services.

Colle explains that being a multi-local provider means being able to offer custody and fund administration services for locally-domiciled funds in major financial markets in Europe, the US and Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. This basically allows BNPP SS to service institutional clients’ buy-side and sell-side requirements from end-to-end.

On April 3, BNP Paribas completed the acquisition of US-based Janus Henderson's middle and back office operations, which gives the bank the capability to provide fund administration and fund accounting platforms for US mutual funds. As part of the transaction, BNP Paribas becomes the fund services provider for Janus Henderson’s US-regulated mutual funds, representing US$138 billion in assets.

The acquisition provides BNP Paribas, traditionally a French bank with an Asian presence, a foothold in the highly lucrative US funds market, the largest in the world with US$16 trillion in assets.

“In the world of asset servicing, we are the only player worldwide which is at the same time a truly global player, but multi-local and multi-asset as well covering both buy-side and sell-side clients. And we are able to do this integrated into our corporate and institutional bank, out of which we create a lot of synergies for our clients across the range of corporate and institutional banking,” Colle says.

When asked whether BNP Paribas is bringing its global custody business to Asia, Colle replies: “We started off as a multi-local custodian in Europe only. And then we expanded into becoming a global custodian in addition to being a multi-local custodian in key hubs, Singapore, Luxembourg, Dublin, London and now the US. And then we expanded the range of multi-local custody markets to Asia, the US and the Americas. And then we expanded into multi-asset when we bought the Credit Suisse Prime Funds Solutions business franchise three years ago.”

“But we don’t want to be in 100 markets at all. We want to stay focused on the bigger financial markets. For the smaller markets, we go through a third party. But as in fund administration, we are much more local, multi-local, than anybody else,” Colle says.