Size matters ever more in asset management, where the commonly stated rule is that any asset manager with under $1 trillion under management is sub-scale.
The asset management units of BNP Paribas and French insurer Axa are well below this level, with around €575 billion and €850 billion, respectively. For BNPP, this compares poorly with other French banks, above all Crédit Agricole, which owns Amundi, a €2 trillion asset manager. Natixis Investment Managers is also more than €1 trillion, while Societe Generale’s lack of a large asset management and insurance business is often cited as the reason why it has underperformed as a group.
There have, consequently, long been questions about M&A involving Axa and BNPP’s asset management units.
Due to regulatory capital constraints and other factors, fee-income from asset management and insurance have become more important for continental European banks during the past decade. BNPP, as well as Natixis, was rumoured to have explored a merger between its asset management unit and that of Axa as far back as 2017.
Rather like HSBC Asset Management, BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) is a middling player, even by comparison to those owned by European banks with a similar business model – focusing on wealthier clients and corporate and institutional banking – such as Deutsche Bank’s DWS or UBS Asset Management.
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