Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 14, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel anticipates Credit Agricole's decision on the Amundi deal by May, impacting Italian asset management strategies.
MILAN (Reuters) - Credit Agricole should decide by May whether they want UniCredit to extend a contract it has with the French bank's fund manager Amundi, an Italian daily reported citing comments by UniCredit's CEO.
UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel told investors in recent days that discussions with Credit Agricole are ongoing, Il Messaggero reported.
"We're talking to Credit Agricole. They should decide by May," the paper quoted Orcel as saying.
UniCredit, Credit Agricole and Amundi did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Under a distribution contract signed in 2017, when UniCredit sold its own fund business to Amundi, products by Europe's biggest asset manager must account for roughly three quarters of the assets UniCredit manages for its Italian clients.
The contract expires in 2027, and Il Messaggero said UniCredit can decide as early as this year not to renew it.
Italy is the biggest market outside France for both Credit Agricole and Amundi.
The newspaper said UniCredit has offered Credit Agricole a 10-year extension of the Amundi contract and a wider geographic distribution.
UniCredit needs Credit Agricole to tender its stake in Banco BPM under a buyout offer it has launched for its smaller peer.
Credit Agricole is the main investor in Banco BPM, with a stake it has recently increased to 15% while seeking supervisory clearance to raise that to just below 20%.
Il Messaggero reported that Orcel had held discussions with Credit Agricole over Christmas and was confident that the French bank would tender its BPM stake under the bid.
(Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Jason Neely)
The article discusses UniCredit's anticipation of Credit Agricole's decision on extending the Amundi deal by May.
The deal affects asset management strategies in Italy, a key market for both UniCredit and Amundi.
UniCredit has proposed a 10-year extension of the Amundi contract with wider geographic distribution.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
