A gold index fund helped drive inflows at Amundi in the second quarter of the year as client investments in riskier assets held up under the strain of Covid-19.
Although net flows were overall negative, the Paris-based company described the net -€0.8 billion figure as “virtually stable” with inflows into “medium/long-term” funds largely counterbalancing outflows from money market funds.
Amundi said exchange-traded products, including the gold exchange-traded commodity (ETC) product launched in May 2019, were among those that sold well and, along with the effect of market movements, drove assets under management 7% higher to €1,592 billion.
There was a “sharp recovery” in net flows for medium/long-term investments from institutional investors in Q2. €4.6 billion flowed into these strategies, in contrast to €11.8 billion of redemptions in the previous quarter.
Yves Perrier, chief executive (pictured), highlighted passive management, ETFs and smart beta as growth drivers, with a net €5.5 billion invested during the quarter. Amundi’s Physical ETC Gold product had reach over €3 billion in assets since its launch a year earlier, the company said, and Perrier also added that real and structured assets had over €1 billion of inflows, with real estate gaining €1.1 billion.
The company’s revenues were down 7.3% compared to Q2 2019 but were offset by lower operating expenses of -7.8%.
Adjusted net income was €233 million compared to €258 million in the same period last year.
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