Q1 AUM up 2% at Eurizon
Eurizon, the asset management company of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group has reported AUM of €309.6bn as of 31 March 2019, up by 2% since the end of 2018 - as Italian investors remained cautious but Chinese investors through its joint venture Penghua Fund Management continued to invest heavily.
Net inflows at Eurizon declined more than €3bn through the period. Italian investors are "still preferring to maintain a prudent approach to investments in asset management products", the manager stated.
In contrast, Pengua FM saw inflows of €6.86bn over the period. Pengua FM's assets reached €88bn, up 17% since the start of the year, and added to Eurizon's accounts takes total assets managed to some €397bn.
Eurizon's Eastern Europe businesses - VUB AM (Slovakia), CIB IFM (Hungary) and PBZ Invest (Croatia) - reported assets hit €3.77bn as at the end of March.
The manager has reported net income of some €116.6m for the first quarter, with fee and commission income hitting €166.7m.
In terms of product development, the manager notes that its Eurizon Italian Fund - Eltif, launched in January, is the "first closed end fund that meets the requirements of the European regulations on European Long Term Investment Funds". The Eltif regime is intended to finance small cap, startup and innovation businesses.
Over the period, it redesigned the range of products dedicated to Banca dei Territori, expanded its Private Banking division's offering, and continued its collaboration with Poste Italiane.
In April, the range of products in the BancoPosta Fondi range was extended as the BancoPosta Azionario Flessibile was introduced, joining BancoPosta Orizzonte Reddito - the latter attracted net inflows of some €352m in its first year since launch in April 2018.
Eurizon also "retained its leadership in Italy in ESG investments" the manager stated, quoting Assogestioni figures available as of December 2018; these note Eurizon offers sustainable and responsible funds in Italy with assets of more than €5.6bn, and inflows over €2bn. As of the end of March, the ESG offering consists of some 25 products and assets under management of some €5.94bn.
Tommaso Corcos, CEO of Eurizon, said: "During the quarter, the focus on performance and the recovery of the markets allowed us to achieve positive results, with some in double digits, for the portfolios managed. We are confident that the continuation of this trend will enable us to achieve the targets set for 2019."
"In order to face the difficulties that had already emerged in 2018, our team focused their work on strengthening our commitment to offering new products and services to the various customer targets. We continue to adhere to ESG criteria because they are consistent with Eurizon's values, and we will maintain our commitment in this direction in Italy and abroad. We confirm our willingness to share our expertise at European level in defining common rules on sustainability criteria. And it is no coincidence that we are consultants to the European Banking Authority and the European Banking Federation on sustainable finance matters and that we chair the EBF's working group on Disclosure."
