BNP Paribas SA, France's biggest bank, halted withdrawals from three investment funds because it couldn't "fairly" value their holdings after concern over US subprime mortgage losses roiled credit markets, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The funds had about 2 billion euros ($2.76 billion) of assets on July 27 including 700 million euros in subprime loans rated AA or higher.
The Paris-based bank said today that it will stop calculating the net asset value for the funds - Parvest Dynamic ABS, BNP Paribas ABS Euribor and BNP Paribas ABS Eonia.
"The complete evaporation of liquidity in certain market segments of the US securitization market has made it impossible to value certain assets fairly regardless of their quality or credit rating," BNP Paribas said in the statement.
The bank joins Bear Stearns and Union Investment Management GmbH in stopping fund redemptions.
