Italian asset managers' net inflows rise to 3.15 bln euros in January
11/02/2025 16:51
By Alberto Chiumento and Alessandro Parodi
Feb 11 (Reuters) - Italy's five listed asset managers
reported combined net inflows of 3.15 billion euros ($3.25
billion) in January, up from 1.19 billion euros in the same
month of 2024.
Net inflows into more lucrative managed assets increased to
a combined 1.72 billion euros, from an outflow of 215.7 million
last year, the data showed.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT?
The fund management industry is under pressure to
consolidate to sustain rising technology investments amid
growing competition from low-margin passive products and other
cheaper forms of investment such as government bonds.
Yet, with interest rates declining, banks are increasingly
turning to asset management to drive revenues. Italy's
third-largest lender Banco BPM BAMI.MI in November launched a
buyout offer to gain full control of fund manager Anima Holding
ANIM.MI .
Italy's top insurer Generali GASI.MI and French bank BPCE
signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in January to
merge their respective asset management businesses, aiming to
create Europe's largest asset manager by revenue.
In a landmark deal, last year France's BNP Paribas BNPP.PA
agreed to buy insurer AXA's AXAF.PA investment management arm.
BY THE NUMBERS
QUOTES
"(Anima's) January data showed a clear improvement on
previous months. We think the ongoing increase in retail inflows
through banking partners is positive as these are higher margin
products," Intermonte said in a note.
Banca Mediolanum's "net inflows in January were very
positive in a seasonally softer month and up compared to January
2024," Equita said in a note.
CONTEXT
Italian bank UniCredit CRDI.MI built a stake in Germany's
Commerzbank in September and then launched a takeover bid for
Banco BPM late in November, which BPM has said is simply a way
to thwart its bid for Anima.
UniCredit's move follows the placement of a 15% stake in
state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) which raised the
prospect of an eventual combination of BPM and MPS which both
partner with Anima.
After UniCredit's offer, France's Credit Agricole CAGR.PA
has entered derivatives to raise its stake in Banco BPM to 15.1%
from 9.9%.
Also two major Italian financial investors, billionaire
Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and the holding company of late
tycoon Leonardo Del Vecchio, have raised their investments in
MPS and Anima in recent months.
The M&A frenzy continued in 2025 as the Italian banking
sector witnessed other three takeover attempts.
Banca Ifis IF.MI bid to buy competitor specialty lender
illimity ILTY.MI , MPS made a surprising all-share offer for
merchant bank Mediobanca MDBI.MI and Italy's fourth-largest
bank BPER Banca EMII.MI proposed to acquire smaller peer Banca
Popolare di Sondrio BPSI.MI .
($1 = 0.9704 euros)
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Asset manager performances in 2025 https://reut.rs/4gCE1cN
Italian asset managers contend growing AuM market https://reut.rs/40SRR4N
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(Reporting by Alberto Chiumento and Alessandro Parodi
Editing by Keith Weir)
((Alberto.Chiumento@thomsonreuters.com;alessandro.parodi@thomso
nreuters.com))