That shows how much they value continuity at the firm. Under Mr Perrier Amundi’s assets under management and net income more than doubled, to €1.7trn and €962bn by the end of 2020. Its market capitalisation has swollen from €7.5bn in 2015, when it went public, to around €15bn. The firm is still a cut below America’s titans: BlackRock, for instance, manages about $9trn in assets. Yet Amundi is nearly twice as big as its closest continental rival, and the only European firm in the global top ten.
Amundi then used its excess cash to acquire rivals, including the asset-management arms of UniCredit, an Italian bank, in 2016, and of Banco Sabadell, a Spanish lender, in 2020. Whereas the portfolios it inherited gave it a foothold in retail investment, where margins are higher, these deals allowed it to expand its distribution network further.
Some woes are common across the industry. Margins are being crushed. The shift to low-cost “passive” funds, which track an index, is accelerating in Europe and dragging managers’ average fees down. Competition is fierce. And lower interest rates are making active managers’ hefty fees more conspicuous precisely when regulators are demanding more transparent disclosure on costs and charges.
Mr Perrier is unfazed by all this. Amundi has room to expand, he argues. Over half its assets still come from France . The firm already has a foothold in fast-growing markets, such as India, where it has a joint venture with the country’s largest bank, and China, where it has a tie-up with AgBank and Bank of China, two big lenders. It is targeting €500bn in Asian assets by 2025, up from nearly €300bn today.