Credit Agricole and Societe Generale have unveiled the identity of their new joint venture after having signed on 9 July the final agreement to combine their asset management businesses. Credit Agricole said that the new identity, Amundi, will come into being on 1 January 2010 and is expected to have almost E650 billion under management.
The unveiling of “Amundi” is the latest stage in the alliance process, which is advancing on schedule. The project was approved by the French supervisory authorities, AMF and CECEI, in September.
Credit Agricole added that drawing on the support of two banking groups and with operations spread in more than 30 countries globally, the joint venture will pursue a two-pronged strategy. Amundi will supply savings solutions to the retail banking networks of the Credit Agricole and Societe Generale groups. With 50m retail customers worldwide, the new entity is anticipated to lead the field in Europe and will be well positioned to form partnerships with other operators. Amundi also aims to offer a high performance asset management offering to institutional clients.
Yves Perrier, current chairman and CEO of CAAM Group and future CEO of Amundi, said: “Our aim is to make Amundi a key player in the European asset management industry, not just through sheer size, but also through four crucial factors such as product quality, measured by financial performance and transparency; close relations with customers, partners’ networks and institutions, with whom it will work on a long-term basis; the efficiency of its organisation, resulting from the individual and collective talents of its teams; a commitment to integrate sustainability and social purpose criteria into its investment policies, alongside financial criteria.”
The company has said that the project was approved by the French supervisory authorities, AMF and CECEI, in September.
