BNP sets up fund manager in Bahrain
BNP Paribas, the French bank, has been granted a license to establish a fund management firm in Bahrain.
The firm will be called BNP Paribas Asset Management BSC.
Earlier this year, the Central Bank of Bahrain granted a licence to allow the group to establish a second wholesale banking operation in Bahrain.
In 2007, the CBB introduced an upgraded regulatory framework to govern the industry for collective investment undertakings. The new framework includes Bahrain’s first-ever rules allowing CIUs targeting professional investors.
Under a newly-created category, ‘Exempt CIU’, the CBB regulatory framework allow hedge funds and other higher risk alternative investment vehicles to be legally domiciled and sold in Bahrain.
With the new licence from the CBB, BNP Paribas Asset Management BSC will be able to establish and manage funds across all categories, said Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Bassam, director of licensing and policy at the CBB.
The CBB is seeing growing interest from financial institutions to establish funds investing in the Gulf region, many of which are being registered in Bahrain.
BNP Paribas joins the likes of Credit Agricole, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and HSBC that run private banks in Bahrain. Bahrain levies no wealth, capital gains or inheritance taxes, helping attract the ultra-rich to the island nation.
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