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BNP Paribas provides a complete suite of asset and fund services to asset managers, asset owners and alternatives.
As the digital assets landscape moves from experimentation to real-world production, the financial market faces a new frontier of complexity. In this discussion, Maria and Stefan explain how BNP Paribas is bridging the gap between traditional fund management and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), enabling the seamless issuance and distribution of tokenised funds.
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How are digital assets impacting fund management?
The journey towards blockchain investment has been a deliberate, step-by-step evolution. Stefan highlights how BNP Paribas Asset Management, and AXA Investment Managers (acquired by BNP Paribas Cardif on 1 July 2025) have moved through significant milestones:
- 2021: digital bond investment by AXA Investment Managers, a first for an asset manager
- 2022:
- Digital bond investment by BNP Paribas Asset Management, leveraging BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Banking’s tokenisation platform, AssetFoundry
- Investment in a listed bond by AXA Investment Managers, settled using wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC) and another tokenisation platform
- 2023:
- BNP Paribas Asset Management tested another tokenisation platform, Neobonds, which is developed by BNP Paribas Global Markets
- AXA Investment Managers invested in a digital bond leveraging a different tokenisation platform and settling this bond using a stablecoin – another first for asset managers
- 2024: both BNP Paribas Asset Management and AXA Investment Managers took part in the wholesale Central Bank Money experimentations orchestrated by the European Central Bank
- 2025 onward: BNP Paribas Asset Management has been working on issuing their tokenised money market fund shares, gradually moving from testing setups to actively issuing products directly on chain
Maria explains that to support this transition, BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business is investing in solutions for asset manager clients to issue and distribute their tokenised funds on the blockchain. She outlines how we are addressing this challenge through three key roles:
- As Transfer Agent, we manage the investors’ orders, issue the tokenised fund-shares, and maintain the register of ownership on the blockchain, consolidating the tokenised fund shares across multiple blockchains when required
- As Fund Dealing Service provider, we support investors that are not equipped on DLT to invest in tokenised funds by routing their orders and managing their wallets and private keys
- As Depositary Bank, we continue to support clients as they invest in digital assets
In a nutshell, our aim is to support clients on their digital assets journey and provide them with the services they need to adopt tokenisation and reach new distribution channels
This capability was recently demonstrated through two distinct successful fund issuances. First, the issuance of natively tokenised Money Market Fund shares on Allfunds’ private blockchain in Luxembourg. Second, in February 2026, the successful issuance of a tokenised Money Market Fund in France on the public Ethereum blockchain using BNP Paribas CIB’s AssetFoundry platform. In both cases, the execution and the update of ownership were instantly performed upon receipt of the NAV.
The next step for funds tokenisation
Stefan notes that Distributed Ledger Technologies are new and impacting the whole value chain. New technologies include new forms of risk that require careful consideration. On the path to providing real products, it was thus important to test multiple setups and involve the entire organisation of BNP Paribas Asset Management – from business teams, functions, to many other teams –, as well as their partners.
We tested the issuance of tokenised money market funds on public blockchains, on private blockchains. We tested the setups in several jurisdictions […]. We tested as well cross-border transactions
For Stefan, the immediate focus is now on scaling these capabilities. Moving towards the issuance of tokenised money market fund shares on chain and onboarding new clients.
Preparing for the adoption of tokenised funds
The roadmap extends beyond simple fund tokenisation. As the ecosystem matures, the focus will shift towards exploring new use cases and different forms of digital cash.
Maria explains that the short-term objective is to extend traditional services to cover digital assets. The goal is to ensure that the infrastructure and expertise are fully established, so that the business is ready when clients decide to adopt digital assets.
Expectations are for a dual model (tokenised and traditional assets) to co-exist for a long time. In expanding fund services to cover digital assets, it will be critical for an asset servicer like BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business to provide a seamless consolidated model, integrating both traditional and digital assets, minimising the impacts on its clients’ operating model.
