French Fund Giant Needs to Step Up on the Global Stage
Amundi had a great 2021. Now it has to be more ambitious in growing its business outside of Europe.
We need a bigger audience.
Photographer: LOIC VENANCE/AFPAmundi SA, Europe’s biggest fund manager, had a record-breaking 2021, with assets under management topping 2 trillion euros ($2.3 trillion) for the first time. To mount a proper challenge to the market dominance of BlackRock Inc., though, it needs to reduce its reliance on European customers and improve its global presence.
Net inflows in the fourth quarter of 65.6 billion euros were almost four times bigger than analysts were expecting. The purchase of Societe Generale SA’s Lyxor fund management business also helped swell the asset pile, keeping Amundi at the head of the European pack. Yet that still leaves it at about a fifth of the size of market leader BlackRock, as measured by managed assets.