Pierre Jond, managing director at Australia’s No. 3 custodian BNP Paribas, says the company’s local banking license will enable it to win more business from fund managers who previously may have just used France’s biggest bank for international business.

BNP Securities Services, the custodian business of the bank, will begin from next year to implement a plan to bolster its 16 per cent share of the Australian custodian market, says Jond. His unit employs 470 people in Australia. Globally BNP Paribas’s custody business employs 7,000 people in 26 countries.

“I’ve been in the business 20 years and perhaps as much as 70 per cent of the competitors who had a custody business when I started have sold it,” says Jond. “The phenomenon of concentration of the custody business has been impressive.”

National Australia Bank Ltd. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are the two biggest custodians in Australia.