By Alberto Chiumento and Alessandro Parodi
(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 in November launched a buyout offer to gain full control of fund manager Anima Holding.
Italy’s top insurer Generali 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 agreed to buy insurer AXA’s 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 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 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 bid to buy competitor specialty lender illimity, MPS made a surprising all-share offer for merchant bank Mediobanca and Italy’s fourth-largest bank BPER Banca proposed to acquire smaller peer Banca Popolare di Sondrio.
($1 = 0.9704 euros)
(Reporting by Alberto Chiumento and Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Keith Weir)
