by Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS (Reuters) – Amundi announced on Friday that its assets under management had increased by 4.1% year-on-year at the end of September, driven by clients’ continued appetite for risk-adverse products in a context of uncertainty over financial markets.

While sharp increases in interest rates, inflation in Europe and recent geopolitical events weigh on the macroeconomic situation, individual and institutional investors have favored safety, betting on cash funds, structured products and ETFs, show the results.

Assets under management increased in the third quarter by 13.7 billion euros over one year to stand at 1,973 billion euros at the end of September, an increase of 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, indicated Amundi.

Passive management recorded strong inflows in the third quarter, of 10.8 billion euros.

Amundi’s joint venture with the Indian public bank SBI also contributed to the collection (+2 billion euros).

Amundi CEO Valérie Baudson said she expected risk aversion to persist for the rest of the year.

“Given the market configuration, we expect the trend to continue until the end of the year,” she said in a conference call with reporters.

Asked about recent comments made by UniCredit chief executive Andrea Orcel that the Italian bank wanted to “rebalance” the 2017 deal with Amundi to increase its fee income, Valérie Baudson said the deals current would make it possible to achieve this objective.

Amundi’s chief executive said UniCredit had said the Italian bank aimed to “reinternalize” a maximum of 20 billion euros under management, the equivalent of 15% of the 134 billion euros in assets under management. management marketed by the Unicredit group.

“This approach is completely compatible with the agreements we have with UniCredit, which are not called into question and which expire in July 2027,” she said.

Amundi’s adjusted net profit reached 290 million euros in the third quarter, up 3% year-on-year, a result in line with market expectations.

(Report Mathieu Rosemain; Camille Raynaud, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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