Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, said 95% of its staff are working remotely and “no use of partial unemployment” had been used in the firm’s response to the covid-19 situation.
The firm also said its central IT framework called Alto – an asset management system created to rival BlackRock’s market-leading Aladdin platform – had helped keep the company “100% operational”.
Paris-based Amundi announced a 3.5% increase year-on-year in assets under management (AUM) to €1,527 billion on Thursday (April 30th) during its results announcement for the first-quarter, but noted AUM had reduced by 7.6% over the past three months, mainly due to negative market movements at the end of March.
Fund flow activity was mainly driven by retail and joint ventures. Net retail flows were €2.5 billion in Q1, while all joint-venture entities contributed €9.7 billion. Recently signed JVs were with Banco Sabadell in Spain and Bank of China’s wealth management arm.
India and China led Asia inflows, which across the continent were equivalent to net €4.8 billion and mean that Asia now accounts for 19% of Amundi’s total AUM compared to 14% a year ago.
The story was different in the firm’s institutional and corporate client segment. These clients redeemed €15.4 billion and this caused net flows across the total business to be negative €3.2 billion for the quarter.
Yves Perrier (pictured), chief executive, said: “Faced with a crisis of unprecedented scope, Amundi has adapted quickly, thanks to its proprietary IT platform and the professionalism of all its employees.”
He said a “positive jaws effect” had seen net asset management revenue significantly increase and expenses decrease, leading to a high level of operating profitability.
Gross operating income (excluding a negative financial income) was €343 million – a 12.2% increase on Q1 2019. Net income, howevver, was €193 million compared to €235 million in the same quarter last year.
With Asia as an important growth driver, higher net asset management revenue across the business was “substantial”. At €673 million, the figure is 5.1% higher versus the same quarter last year thanks partly to a doubling of performance fees to reach €42 million.
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