By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS (Reuters) - Amundi, Europe's biggest fund manager, reported on Friday that its assets under management rose 4.1% from a year earlier, as clients flocked to low-risk investment products amid uncertainty in financial markets.
Sharp rises in interest rates, lingering inflation in Europe and recent geopolitical events weigh on the macroeconomic outlook, pushing retail and institutional investors to safer bets in the form of treasury funds, structured products and exchange traded funds (ETF), Amundi's third-quarter results showed.
Total assets under management (AUM) at Amundi rose in the third quarter by 13.7 billion euros ($14.44 billion) from a year earlier to 1.973 trillion euros, reflecting an increase of 0.6% from the previous quarter.
The bulk of the inflows was underpinned by so-called "passive management", which aims to replicate the performance of a specific market index or benchmark, with close to 11 billion euros.
Amundi's joint venture with India's state-owned bank SBI also contributed the inflows (+2 billion euros).
Amundi Chief Executive Valerie Baudson said she expected investors to remain risk averse for the rest of the year.
"Given the market configuration, we expect the trend to continue until the end of the year," she told reporters in a call.
Asked about recent comments made by UniCredit (LON:0RLS) CEO Andrea Orcel, who said the Italian bank was working to "rebalance" a deal with Amundi to increase fees that stem from selling investment funds, Baudson said the current agreements with the lender would allow such an aim.
Baudson said UniCredit has said the Italian bank aimed at "reinternalizing" a maximum of 20 billion euros under management, equivalent to 15% of the 134 billion euros in assets under management marketed by the Unicredit (BIT:CRDI) group.
"This approach is totally compatible with the agreements we have with UniCredit, which are not called into question and which expire in July 2027," Baudson said.
Amundi's third-quarter adjusted net income came in line with market expectations at 290 million euros, up 3% from a year earlier.
($1 = 0.9489 euros)
(This story has been corrected to fix headline and make clear that assets under management, not inflows, rose 4.1%)