Yes, hello. Good morning to all of you. I would like to introduce the speakers today in the room with me, Yves Perrier, Chief Executive Officer, Valérie Baudson, Head of CPR, Passive ETF, and Third Party Distribution and Wealth, Nicolas Calcoen, Head of Finance, Strategy and Public Affairs, and Domenico Aiello, Chief Financial Officer. Yves, the floor is yours.
Thank you to attend this presentation. Anthony mentioned the title of Valérie. This title will evolve in the coming period, and I will come back to this. As usual, I will make a short introduction, which will be in two parts. The first is, where is Amundi after the year 2020? My second part is about the evolution of governance. First point, 2020. I would say that 2020 has been a very satisfactory year for different reasons. The first reason, it's our results. Net income of the year is only 4.5% down compared to last year, and if we neutralize the market effect, you see that we are completely in the trajectory of our three-years plan that we announced. That means that Amundi has continued this trajectory of growth and profitability.
When you look at the results of the last quarter, it's the highest results that we posted since the creation of Amundi, 5% up compared to last quarter, and 22% up compared to the third quarter of the year. With a good dynamic of inflows, EUR 45 billion for the year, EUR 15 billion in the quarter. In reality, when we put aside specific situation in our joint venture with Agricultural Bank of China, it's EUR 30 billion on the quarter. Same trends of growth with profitability.
The second reason to qualify them very satisfactory is the fact that despite this very exceptional year impacted by the sanitary crisis, we have taken, in 2020, major strategic initiatives which will fuel the future growth. I recall them, the renewal of the agreements with Société Générale for five years more, the acquisition of Sabadell Asset Management. I can tell you that it's done.
The integration is done with the transfer of operation on the Information Technology and the good momentum on net inflows. The creation of BOC in China. Bear in mind that we entered in the discussion with our partner in October 2018. At the beginning of 2019, at the beginning of last year, we signed with our partner. In September, we had the authorization of the Chinese regulator, now this joint venture is operational and has launched its first funds in these networks.
Last but not least, the creation of Amundi Technology, which is the business line which will be dedicated to the services that we provide with our IT platform to competitors or asset owners with an ambitious but realistic objective of EUR 150 million revenues in the next five years. Third reason, Environmental, Social, and Governance. You know that ESG for us has never been marketing. It has been a conviction.
In 2010, we put ESG to be a responsible investor in the four pillars of the values of the company. 2018, we launched an ambitious plan. I can tell you now that this plan is done, specifically, all our daily open funds now will integrate an ESG process in addition to the traditional financial process. That means that for us to be a responsible investor is to be 100% responsible. Things are doing well. The strategy is clear, the same since the creation of Amundi. Results are good. The engines of development are here. I have considered that it was the right time now to pass the operational responsibility of Amundi to somebody who will be able not only to continue, but to amplify the development of Amundi on a long-term perspective.
The choice which has been made, after a very comprehensive review of the bodies of the board of Amundi, but also with the board of Crédit Agricole S.A., which is our majority shareholders. The choice of Valérie, it's a choice which has three features. The first is competence. Valérie is somebody with strong leadership, a lot of skills, experience in the industry. She has been working with Amundi since 14 years, like me. She was even a bit before me. I joined Amundi because I know her. It was not Amundi, in fact, it was Crédit Agricole Asset Management. She has successfully built from scratch our Exchange Traded Fund business line. She managed very successfully our subsidiary, CPR AM, increasing the Assets under Management by 50%. She's been also very instrumental in the general management of the company.
I am very happy, and also I can say this, very proud of this choice, because this choice confirm that the way we have built the companies, with this motto in Amundi, there is no star but Amundi itself, with a talented management team, very unified. I would say that Valérie is the spearhead of the iceberg of the management of Amundi. That's the reason why I'm saying it's a reason of pride. Myself, I will become chairman of the board. This evolution of governance will be implemented on the 10th of May after the Annual General Meeting , which will approve the accounts. That means that during this period, until the 10th of May, we will be with Valérie, managing the company in tandem, in fact, and we have some files on the tables. Then she will have the full responsibility as a CEO.
She will be executive. I won't be executive. I will be a Chairman, which will organize this board in the most efficient way. I will also try to consolidate or develop the relationship that we can have, especially internationally, with our main partners, and that we continue to be on the debate of ideas through the Comité Médicis, that our think tank, which deal with the question of ESG, and more globally, the question of society, of general interest. Of course, I will be permanently available to advise, to support Valérie when she would consider that it's useful, and only when she would consider that is useful. That's what I wanted to said, and I propose you that before passing the floor to Nicolas, that Valérie can say some words.
Thank you very much, Yves. Of course, it's an honor for me to be appointed Chief Executive Officer of Amundi, and to succeed Yves Perrier, who has been the European leader and global leader in asset management, and I know I can rely on his support. I had the opportunity to thank the Board of Directors of Amundi, as well as the executives of Crédit Agricole Group for the confidence they have placed in me. As Yves was mentioning, I've been dedicated to the development of Amundi for 14 years now, and I look forward, together with the talented management team, as well as all Amundi teams around the world, to continuing to develop the company. This will be done in line with the strategy that has made Amundi so successful since its creation. The keyword will be continuity. Thank you very much.
Speak of the figures now.
Back to the numbers.
Back to the numbers, in fact.
Thank you very much. Good morning to all. A quick word on the context in which we operate before I enter into the specifics of Amundi. I think you have access to the presentation that was prepared on page 15 of this presentation. First of all, in terms of market context, I will learn anything, but it's important to remind that after the major shock on the market in March, we saw a recovery during the year, and this recovery continued on the fourth quarter. Also to remind that despite this recovery, the level of the market on the fourth quarter remained lower than what it was at the same period in 2019. Up compared to, for example, the third quarter, but still down by 5% if you look at the European equity market compared to last year. Important when you consider the nature of revenues.
Second element of context, the industry itself, and here also, fourth quarter see the confirmation of the recovery of the European asset management market as measured here on the slide, page 16, by the inflows on European open-ended funds. You can see that in October and November, we saw on the European market more than EUR 230 billion of inflows with a strong component in long-term assets. Confirmation of the recovery that started during the second quarter of this year. In that context, Amundi performed well since, and I am on page 18, our asset under management at the end of the year reached EUR 1,729 billion, so up by 4% compared to the end of the third quarter. This growth is linked to a positive market effect of a bit more than EUR 50 billion, but also net inflows of EUR 14.4 billion.
These inflows were particularly robust if you look at the activity excluding the joint ventures, I'm on page 19, EUR 30 billion on the third quarter, excluding JVs, with a noticeable improvement in medium-long term inflows, a bit more than EUR 3 billion over the quarter. Continued improvement during all the year. Flows in treasury products that remain high at a bit more than EUR 17 billion. On the JV side, we had good momentum in long-term assets, some outflows on low-margin products. Going a bit more in detail regarding the retail segment, page 20, as I indicated, inflows continued to recover. They reached a bit more than EUR 8 billion over the quarter, EUR 6.4 billion excluding treasury funds. A very positive quarter driven by all segments.
The networks, both French and international networks, show a significant recovery and are positive, especially in France, in Italy or in Austria, thanks in particular to the development in unit-linked as well as discretionary portfolio management. Third-party distributors continue to show a positive momentum, EUR 3.7 billion across most of our geographies in Europe and Asia. On the institutional side, page 21, significant thing to notice is the very strong rebound in inflows on long-term assets, a bit more around EUR 7 billion, while at the same time, we continue to see a positive inflows, robust inflows in treasury products, a bit more than EUR 15 billion concentrated in corporate clients. Finally, page 22, joint venture, as I already indicated, robust activity in high-margin products, but outflows on low-margin products. What are these outflows? First of all, in China, outflows on what is called Channel Business .
Historic activity that is subject to regulatory scrutiny and is seeing outflows of EUR 16 billion on the quarter. Second element in India, some outflows on some institutional clients. In both cases, it's at very low margins. On other activities, in particular mutual funds, which have much higher margins, the business momentum remains strong, both in India and in China, and totaling on the quarter EUR 6 billion. In terms of results, page 23, on this fourth quarter, we posted a net income, adjusted net income of EUR 288 million, which is up by a bit more than 20% compared to the last quarter and by 5% compared to the fourth quarter. Also, it's important to notice it's the highest quarterly income since Amundi was created. We can see clearly on this graph the fact that 2020 was a very particular year.
We saw on the first quarter, in the midst of the crisis, the lowest results since the Initial Public Offering, since the acquisition of Pioneer, but also in the fourth quarter, after a good recovery, the highest level. There are three elements explaining this good result. First one, the revenues, page 24. They are up by close to 2% compared to last year, with, in particular, a good recovery on net management fees, up by close to 1%, and a very good level of performance fees over this quarter. We posted EUR 94 million revenues on performance fees thanks to the market recovery, but also thanks to the good quality of our investment teams that made a good choice in terms of allocation during this period. First element, revenue. Second element, costs, page 25. They are still clearly under control.
You can see that if you exclude the scope effects linked to, first, there was a consolidation of Sabadell, and second, the startup cost linked to the creation of the new subsidiary in China with BOC that became operational in October. In fact, our costs are still down by 1.7% compared to the last quarter of 2019, and as a consequence, our cost-income ratio remains very close to 50%, 50.7% to be exact, which is, as before, one of the lowest in the industry. Third element to be noticed, the contribution of joint venture. I indicated we saw some outflow, but on low-margin product. Activity on higher-margin product is still positive, and that's been so for the fourth quarter. As a consequence, we have a good contribution of joint ventures, EUR 20 million on this quarter, up by 20% compared to last year.
If I come now to the full year, giving a bit perspective on this result at the end of the year, clearly what we can say is that Amundi during the year continued its profitable course. First of all, in terms of activity, page 28, with overall EUR 45 billion of net inflows. What is particularly noticeable is that we had in fact 2/2 of the year, as every year, but very different pattern. The first half of the year, which was strongly impacted by the crisis. Despite the crisis, we had some outflows, but limited outflows of only EUR 4 billion, and a strong recovery on the second half of the year, with overall EUR 49 billion on the second half. A good level of activity, and that compare well with previous years.
If you accept the exceptional element that was accounted in 2019, you remember we posted more than EUR 100 billion of inflows, but including around EUR 70 billion on specific mandates in India from RJ. A good momentum maintained in spite of the crisis, and this is particular true both for retail and institutional business, page 29. You can see that excluding JVs, we posted in total EUR 40 billion. In retail, net inflows were around EUR 11 billion, so are up compared to 2019, with in particular good momentum in third-party distributors on the French network, thanks to the development of unit-linked. On the institutional side, very strong inflows on treasury products coming from corporate clients in the second half of the year. On the medium, long-term side, positive development despite the crisis on, I would say, external clients, whether institutional, sovereigns, and so on.
Negative outflows coming from the group insurance company, outflows that are completely linked to the fact that there were outflows in the market on traditional Euro contract life insurance. In fact, you can see, if you look at this page, the counter effect of the outflows on the mandate from a group insurer compensated by positive flows in French retail, in particular in unit-linked, with, of course, a favorable impact in terms of revenues and margins for us. Regarding the joint ventures, page 30, steady net inflows overall during the year, despite these outflows on Channel Business . If you exclude this channel business, close to EUR 17 billion inflows across the year with a continued development, in particular in India, and our JV in India in 2020 became the first asset manager on the Indian market.
This growth and this good business momentum has been nurtured by the success of our growth drivers and by product that meets well the need of the market. First element, passive management, where we continue to post very strong inflows, EUR 22 billion inflows, both in ETF and index mandates and funds. With several innovations launched during the year, the Gold Exchange Traded Commodity, for example, or several ESG products.
Real assets that also continue to contribute positively to the AUM, with more than EUR 4 billion in flows, in real estate, but also in private equity and private debt. Last element, which is noticeable, active equities, where we posted positive inflows, a bit more than EUR 3 billion, thanks to the success of our thematic offerings managed by CPR. This growth, these inflows have, of course, also been nurtured by solid, I would say, steady investment performance. They are illustrated by page 32.
You can see that more than 70% of our funds are classified as the first or second quartile over a long-term period. In terms of results now, 2020, as I said, is also a confirmation of our growth trajectory. Despite the impact of the crisis on our revenues, we posted a net result of EUR 962 million, which is down, I would say, only by 4.7% compared to last year, and which is basically stable if you exclude the direct impact on the market. This confirms the trajectory that was announced a few years ago, with almost a doubling of our net results compared to the time of the IPO. Also worth to notice is that on the second half, less impacted by the crisis of the year, our net result was EUR 523 million.
Very much in line with the overall objective of EUR 1,050 million for the full year for 2020, announced following the integration of [audio distortion]. This result is the consequence of opposite effects. First, on the revenue side, a decrease in revenues by around 4% due to the crisis. Management fees that were down by a bit more than 2% due to the negative average market effect and a decrease in the average margin. Financial revenues are also strongly impacted by the crisis due to the negative mark-to-market impact on the value of our portfolio. To be noticed on the revenue side, positive evolution in performance fees with EUR 200 million of performance fees over the year. It's up by 17% compared to 2019, which was already a good year. This negative evolution due to the crisis on the revenue was largely compensated by two elements.
Our cost, that remained very much under control, decreased by 2.6% compared to last year. Even if you exclude the scope effect linked to Sabadell and to BOC, a decrease by 4% at the constant scope compared to last year. Last element, as for the last quarter, a positive development from our joint venture, which are illustrated by page 35, with in particular, a significant increase of the contribution from both the Indian joint venture and the Chinese joint venture in this year. This good result contributed to reinforce again our financial structure, you can see page 36 that we still continue to benefit from a very robust financial structure with a EUR 3.2 billion tangible equity at the end of the year and a core equity Tier 1 ratio of 20%. Significantly above the regulatory requirement.
This robust position allowed us to resume our dividend policy. You remember that we were not in a position last year to distribute a dividend due to the recommendation of the European Central Bank. We now are in a position to resume this policy with a distribution of 65% of our 2020 net earnings. We will propose at the next general meeting on the 10th of May, a dividend of EUR 2.9 per share. It represents only 4.5% of yield based on last day's market capitalization. This is for the, I would say, the financial element of the year. As Yves indicated, this year has been also very remarkable in terms of the growth initiatives that have been launched during this year or confirmed during this year. Yves already mentioned them. I will just go over quickly over them.
First of all, it's the renewal of the partnership with Société Générale for five years, so until the end of 2029. That allows to confirm our positioning in France and in retail in France. Second initiative, page 40. The partnership with Banco Sabadell in Spain signed for 10 years, associated with the acquisition and the integration of Sabadell AM. During the last quarter, we can confirm that both the partnership is starting well. We posted EUR 300 million of net inflows with Sabadell network in the second half of the year, and the integration of Sabadell AM is also well in place since the IT migration, in particular, on our Amundi Leading Technologies & Operations platform, already took place during the first quarter. Clearly, it confirms the potential for value creation associated with this operation.
Third significant operation, the creation of a new subsidiary in China in partnership with BOC, one of the four leading bank in China. It reminded us about the short delays in which this project has been conducted and in particular, during the fourth quarter. At the beginning of the quarter, the new subsidiary became operational, and it was able to launch its first product in the BOC network in December. Here again, an operation that is well on track and gives us a unique position on the Chinese market. Last initiative that we launched on which we thought it was useful to give a bit of color today is the creation of Amundi Technology. Page 43, and the following ones.
You know that technology on our IT platform is one of the strong assets of Amundi since its creation, and that we would view that we consider that it was an asset on which we could also leverage to create a new business with external clients. It started a few years ago. Now we are in a position to make this business, we call it Amundi Technology, a fully fledged new business line with ambitious targets. We can set ambitious targets because we think that there's a market potential, which is important. Page 44, we evaluate the addressable market, mainly in Europe, and to some extent in Asia, at EUR 1.5 billion.
We consider it should be growing because many players in the financial industry are facing structural challenges and are trying to refocus their activity on core business, on considering outsourcing their IT or technology services, which create a potential for us. Considering technology platform, page 45, which we can characterize as being very performing, high level, thanks to the resource we have dedicated to this platform, with, in particular, 700 IT specialists, of which most of them are internal, and with investments that are made to develop this platform. The platform, which is performing, which is very efficient. You know that the cost of the IT for Amundi represents roughly one basis point compared to assets, between 6% and 7% of our revenues. A much lower level than the average of the industry, which makes it an asset when you want to promote it.
Third element, thanks in particular to the integration of many leading practices, in particular, Pioneer in the last two years. We have a very strong experience in managing projects and integrating new operations, new investment platforms on this IT platform. That allow us to start to promote this offer to external clients, and today we already have 24 external clients representing last year around EUR 25 million. The time has come for new development, leveraging the distinct advantage of the platform. I was already mentioning a very performing technology thanks to high research and development. A partnership culture, which is very important to have an offer which is relevant for many different clients. This partnership culture is illustrated by partnerships with, in particular, major custodians such as CACEIS or more recently, BNY Mellon, which was announced a few days ago.
Strong experience on international teams with two hubs in Paris and Dublin, and a technology platform, which is both open, connected to, for example, many custodians, maybe distribution platform, many partners, and also have a high capacity to treat very high volume. Based on this advantage, the offer we can propose to our clients have several components covering the, I would say, the value chain of the saving industry. The third component, probably the most important one, is ALTO Investment, which is The portfolio management module that we can propose to asset managers or asset owners. There's also what we call ALTO Wealth & Distribution, which is more dedicated to distributors, to wealth management, covering in particular discretionary portfolio management and advisory services.
We can have also a more dedicated offer, for example, towards employee retirement savings platform, which is more a French market, but an important one, on which we can leverage on the capacity and our experience in employee savings plans. Based on the assets, we consider that it's time to accelerate the development of services, make it a full business line for Amundi with ambitious targets. We consider that from EUR 25 million of revenues in 2020, we should reach EUR 150 million in a period of time in 2025. Last element before opening the floor for questions. Here also, Yves said a word in the introduction. ESG, where Amundi has had a leading position since its creation.
Remember that Amundi made of ESG one of the founding pillars when it was created, with new ambitious targets set in 2018, with in particular the idea to deploy in all the investment platforms where it's possible, integration of ESG criteria in the performance, and ambitious target in terms of new initiatives. The good news is that today we are in a position to say that these commitments are met, on page 51, a little bit in advance with the target which was set for 2021. Since from now on, 100% of our open-ended funds will integrate an ESG approach and will have an ESG score which is higher than the one of its benchmark.
Second, I would say, big commitment, we said in 2018 that we had the objective to double from EUR 10 billion- EUR 20 billion the AUM on specific initiatives dedicated to the environment or social initiatives. In fact, at the end of 2020, we are already at EUR 22 billion on these initiatives. Thanks to the many new solutions and initiatives that were launched over the recent years. Some of them are illustrated page 52. I won't go across all of them, some elements are particularly noticeable. The partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, for example, to design a new climate change investment framework to build new portfolio on this basis, or the launch of many funds dedicated based on the Paris-Aligned Benchmark, or dedicated to the social impact of the corporates in which they invest.
Thanks to the implementation of this plan, thanks to these numerous initiatives and new solutions, we can say that Amundi is at the end of the day, more and more recognized as a key player in this field. It is illustrated by a few elements. For example, according to Broadridge, we are number one in Europe in terms of ESG asset under management in open-ended funds. The last assessment of the Principles for Responsible Investment last year led for Amundi to have the highest score, A+, across all categories. Maybe the last illustration, one of the brokers that follow in particular ESG trends, selected Amundi among the 10 stocks, recommended stocks at the global level, and Amundi is the only one in the financial sector to have been selected. Without coming back to the governance evolution that has been developed by Yves Perrier, clearly a very key year for Amundi.
Consolidation of the growth momentum, new initiatives that will nurture future growth, and confirmation of our leadership in the ESG field.
Thank you, Nicolas. Now we are ready to answer your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A queue. This will only take a moment. If you wish to copy your request, please press the hash key. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press one to wait for the question. Our first question comes from the line of Jacques-Henri Gaulard from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. It's Jacques-Henri Gaulard here from Kepler Cheuvreux. Congratulations on the two of you for your appointments. It's an amazing story and looking forward for the next 15 years, obviously, or more. Question for you, Yves. Man, I'm going to miss you anyway. What type of chairman are you going to be? Are you going to be a hands-on chairman, more like an executive one, or are you going to remain in a more traditional role? Basically tell us a little bit about the transition you were hinting at at the very beginning. That's the first question. The second is more on what happened on the channel business in China, which is responsible for some outflows.
If we could have a little bit more color, maybe, on the type of product it is, and if you assume that this is going to be a one-off outflow or something that might recur, and if that had any sort of impact on your financial trajectory on the new BOC joint venture. Probably not, because it's only new products there, but just to make sure. Thank you very much.
The question about the chairman. Before saying again what I have said in introduction in detail, I want to tell you my spirit in the present period. I've always, as you know, conducted my life with two drivers. One is to build, the second is to transmit. Why I consider it was the right time, the building of Amundi is done. I don't come back again. Now is the time of transmission. That means that I will not be an Executive Chairman . I will be a chairman which has this responsibility towards all shareholders in order to validate the strategy, to follow its implementation. Of course, in this role, I will also consolidate the company about the relationship that I can develop with our main partners, my influence also on the economic or financial debate.
For the rest, Valérie will be the executive CEO with the full responsibility on the operational side. Of course, I will be available for her every time she will consider it necessary. Now is the time, in fact, to Valérie to be hands-on. I will appreciate this new time to be more relaxed. That's clear.
Thank you.
Second point, Channel Business .
Yeah.
We have often the discussion with Nicolas and Domenico. The definition, I will simplify. These funds, once they are the equivalent of monetary funds, which was in a context where Chinese banks, under the constraint of capital and so on, externalize off-balance sheet product to off-balance sheet. They change their mind, make the regulation evolved. That explain the outflows of this year. It will continue next year. There remain about, Nicolas, EUR 12 billion of [crosstalk].
EUR 12 billion.
[audio distortion] Maybe there will be other product in substitution, but we can anticipate next year additional outflows on these products, but without any significant impact on the results, because they are products with very low margins.
No impact for the new subsidiary with BOC, since we, by nature, don't have this product, and we are managing other products that fit the new regulations put in place by the authority.
That's great. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ellie Doon from Credit Suisse. Please ask your question. Your line is open.
Morning. Thank you. If I can just quickly add my congratulations to Monsieur Perrier, and a very warm welcome to Valérie as well. Firstly, just in terms of your capital on slide 36, could you remind us, please, what your minimum Common Equity Tier 1 ratio level is that you would like to keep at? Therefore, some idea of the surplus. I guess, given the change in management, coupled with perhaps the completion of integration at Sabadell, I just wondered whether M&A is still very much part of the Amundi story. I noticed this morning there's some speculation in the press about Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Asset Management. Any comments you can give there would be great.
Second question, just on Amundi Technology, just to confirm, you're not expecting to incur any incremental investment costs associated with the build-out to EUR 150 million of revenue target. Just in terms of that target, how should we think about that in terms of new clients versus the increased penetration with the Existing 24 that you have who are generating the current 25 million? Thank you.
Nicolas, you take the question about capital, and I will take the two other question.
On capital, we had the CET1 of 20%, where the minimum regulatory requirement is around 7%, and our managerial target is around 10%. We need to keep a buffer compared to the minimum requirement, which means that we have an excess capital compared to this managerial target of around EUR 1.2 billion.
The question of the consolidation first, for Sabadell, Nicolas mentioned to you that the integration is doing very well with the transfer done in October or November. All the operations of Sabadell have been transferred on our IT platform, ALTO. The dynamic of flows is here. We confirm that we will realize the level of synergy announced at the minimum. Second question about technology. Firstly, I want to add what Nicolas said, it's not something which is new. We have begun, and with this amount of revenues, it's limited, EUR 25 million, but it has been done. Bear in mind that what we have done, in fact, we are in a context where nearly all our software now are proprietary. Second point, 75% of our IT platform people, which is based in Paris and Dublin, are internal, which is not the case in the industry.
What we are creating, in fact, we are creating a sort of IT company, which in five years will be one of the company of reference for software, not only for asset management, but also for the management of all savings. For example, for discretionary asset management, tools to help advisors, and so on. Of course, to go from 25 to 150, it will be mainly new clients. I can tell you that yesterday, it's not official, it will be official in the coming months, we have signed an agreement with a major French asset management, and also an agreement with another company, that things are going well. Of course, to be able to serve more and more clients, we will have to add additional people to make it. The bulk of investment have been made. The investment, they are our softwares.
You know that in the industry, except one big competitor, which has been a pioneer on this, BlackRock, nobody has the equivalent in terms of software.
Thank you. That's very clear. Can I just quickly follow up, if I may, with the integration of Sabadell Asset Management having gone so well, are you now comfortable with the level of your presence in Spain, or is there somewhere you would still look to extend the scope of your distribution? Thank you.
Now we are number four in Spain. I recall you were number one in France, number three or number two, if except generally in Italy, number two in Austria and the Czech Republic. We are the second foreign asset manager in Germany. We have a strong footprint. Firstly, we want to grow organically in each of the country where we are. Frankly speaking, I consider that there is not a country where we can grow organically, again, market share. Secondly, after is the question of possibility of acquisition. For acquisition, you need a buyer, but you need also a seller. It will depend on the opportunities.
Thank you again.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Arnaud Giblat from Exane. Please ask your question, your line is open.
Yeah, good morning. I've got three questions, please. Firstly, to come back on the technology, I was wondering if you could give us a bit more on the roadmap. How many clients do you need to achieve EUR 150 million of revenues? From a client's perspective, can you talk about the sales pitch you're coming up to when you see the clients? Are you selling a big savings to them? Is it just, well, without technology, you'll achieve a better functionality or maybe both? Is there any competition? I'm thinking about Aladdin and Charles River. They typically operate at the very large end in the asset management space. I assume not competing against them, or is it just a case of you competing versus their internal systems? I also wanted to come back on the JVs.
Clearly, you've stepped up in profitability to EUR 20 million a quarter. Are there any one-offs to think of there? For instance, I'm thinking particularly, are there any large performances I should be thinking about? As well, you've launched your BOC JV, have the startup costs come through in Q4? Thank you.
Nicolas, you take the two last question, and I will answer about technology.
Sorry.
On the JV, the increase in the results, do they benefit from one-off or not?
2018, no one-off. No significant. There was a negative last year in China [crosstalk] due to the bonds that the JV had to acquire. Most of the increase is, I would say, organic, linked to the increase in revenues and profitability.
Very often, you were asking about growth in AUM, a growth which was not at the same level of net income. In fact, it was normal that at the beginning, there was a delay between the growth of AUM and the net income. For the future, this joint venture will see their result in a dynamic of growth. About technology, why we launch this business. Firstly, because we have the tools, we have all the software that we have developed. It's ALTO Investment, which is a portfolio management for asset management. ALTO Wealth & Distribution, which is to support the advisors in private banks. We have what we call the Noé Arch, which is the software for employee saving schemes. Which are the competitors? There are effectively not so many competitors. Aladdin of BlackRock, of course. You have SimCorp for portfolio management.
For ALTO Wealth, you have some, Charles River, and so on. The good news that there are not so many competitors and the market is huge because many competitors have to face this technology challenge. Personally, I think that not only in asset management, but in the financial services industry, there will be those who are able to manage the digitalization, the global digitalization, able to make their IT evolve, and those who won't be able. To do so, you need to invest a lot, to have our teams and so on. We have a real competitive edge, because when you implement, and in my career, I've managed a big project like this, and Valérie also. You have two parameters. One, the functionality of the software. Second, the capacity to implement. When you look at ALTO, firstly, Pioneer was using Aladdin.
We merge, we transfer all operation from Aladdin to ALTO. The investment managers of Pioneer were able to compare. Frankly speaking, I have never heard an investment manager of Pioneer saying that it was better with Aladdin. Second, the capacity of implementation. We have done this with Pioneer. We have done this with Sabadell. We have done this with BAWAG P.S.K. We have done this with the BOC. We have implemented in the new joint venture, ALTO. We have begun to do this with other companies. I think that we have something which is really unique. The reason why we are very confident with the objective, which is announced. What I propose for you, Nicolas, Valérie, is that one day, you make with Guillaume Lesage, with the head of this division, a dedicated session to explain this.
Final point, we have in January, signed a technology, a cooperation agreement with BNY Mellon to combine the offer in custody of BNY Mellon and the offer of Amundi ALTO Investment Management to have a solution which goes from front to back.
There was also a question from Arnaud on the cost of the new company in China with BOC. The cost in the quarter was EUR 10 million. It was a startup cost, plus recurring cost, linked to the fact that the company is now fully operational with 45 people in the company. EUR 10 million.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Bruce Hamilton from Morgan Stanley. Please ask your question.
Thanks. Morning all, congratulations on the promotions. Two questions, one on sort of distribution, then a question for Valérie. Clearly, one of the strengths of Amundi is its combination of captive and sort of third-party distribution. I guess, in light of the slightly more open SocGen arrangements, is it fair to say that the trends going forward may be that we see stronger growth in third party than in the other sort of branch, international networks, and French networks? Certainly, that appears to be the case in the last couple of years. Do you expect any change from the regulatory push in Europe that could lead to more opening up of what is still currently quite closed or captive architecture?
Secondly, for Valérie, I guess, in the opening remarks that Yves made, it was a story of continuity, but he said that you might amplify some of the trends that are in place already. I'm just interested in any areas that we should think about, particularly perhaps given your responsibilities on sort of distribution and wealth division. Is that an area where, in wealth, we should look for an acceleration in growth or anything that we should look for there? Thank you.
I will pass the bulk of the two questions to Valérie, except about the question of regulatory. Of course, there are things to come, additional things to Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. About the question of open architecture, I don't see a major impact for us. Have in mind that when you take SocGen, UniCredit, even Sabadell, when we have a long-term partnership with these banks, they have not only the possibility, but they do, they propose to their clients also funds which are not manufactured by Amundi. They are in open architecture. The real asset that we have with these partners, in fact, is the fact that we are not selling only funds. We are selling a global service and, for example, discretionary investment management, training tools, and so on. In fact, that's what we export to third-party distributors.
I think that the future is for those who will be able to bring this global service, which is really in the DNA of Amundi since it was born. Maybe Valérie will add a more specific view on this and about the future business.
Thank you, Yves. On the momentum on third-party distribution, I think there are two explanations. The first one, obviously, is our current organic growth. We are present in 37 countries, so we are gaining clients every day, and new opportunities for business every day, especially in Europe, where, as Yves was mentioning, we can gain market share in all countries, despite our strong positions already. Obviously, in Asia as well, with a number of countries where we're very strong with third-party distribution. I can think about Taiwan, for instance. Second reason is the good momentum on the ETF and passive management on third-party distribution, which was a part of the significant growth last year. Regarding your other question about the future, so, on this specific area, obviously we will go on covering our clients on both active and passive management.
We are working on selling them more and more services and solutions. Of course, Yves was speaking about technology, but here I'm more speaking about.
solutions to help them advising more efficiently their own retail clients. We're speaking about advisory, we're speaking about digitalized Discretionary Portfolio Management, that we are already developing with our retail partners, and we want to benefit from this expertise to develop them with our third-party distributor. We can speak about fund selection, for instance, or ESG advisory. Last but not least, I could mention that Fund Channel, which we now own at 100%, will be distributed very globally now that we're the only shareholder. All these services will be distributed in addition, obviously, to our traditional active and passive management and in addition to Amundi Technology to amplify the growth.
Excellent. Thank you. Very clear.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Hubert Lam, from Bank of America. Please ask your question, your line is open.
Hi, good morning. I'd like to congratulate both Yves and Valérie on your new roles. Three questions from me. Firstly, on fee margin. Fee margin fell one basis point year-on-year this year. Do you expect the same type of fee margin pressure for 2021? That's the first question. Secondly, your medium long-term flows improved significantly in the quarter. Would you say that we've turned a corner now, and would you say that risk appetite is back after being on the sidelines for a lot of last year? Lastly, on cost-income ratio. You're getting close to a 50% cost-income ratio now. Is getting a 50% or even a lower than 50% cost-income ratio possible, and is this something you are actively targeting? Thank you.
Fee margin, it's very difficult to predict the average fee margin because it's a result of the structure of the asset, passive, active, institutional, retail, and so on. We have always considered that it's reasonable to consider that the pressure on margins will continue with the context of low interest rate. That means that the reason why we have always designed a company in order to be able to adapt to this. About long-term outflows. Flows are depending on many factors. One of the main factor is the risk aversion of the customers. You see that, as Nicolas said, the first semester in Europe, we had the outflows. Now we have inflows. If you look at the long term, I think that it will be positive for a very simple reason.
The fact that if you take Europe, the main product for savers has been life insurance and especially the Euro contract. The Euro contract, its remuneration is every year down and down. They will need alternative investment, when I say alternative to Euro contract, and I think that structurally, there will be a growth for the fund industry. The second point is Asia. In Asia, it's a continent of growth of the economy, growth of GDP, and growth of the saving. That's why our unique position in this region is a real interest. For the cost-income ratio, we had this guidance to be under 53%, it can be 50%, 51% o r 49%, and so on.
The idea is to be at this way that not only it depends on the Just, you don't see us, but Valérie was saying, "Hey, oh, under 49." She's [audio distortion] now. Now, as the Chairman, I give the pressure. Seriously, the philosophy of Amundi is each to invest and to finance partially by productivity gains and the economy of scale due, for example, to synergies and so on. We have not a religion of the 50, the 51, the 53, and this, because also it depends on the revenues. For example, the year you have very good performance fees, it will be better than the year we'll have lower performance fees. The main important point is that we are a leader in efficiency. Even we can say the leader. We will continue to be the leader or among the leader.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mike Werner from UBS. Please ask your question.
Thank you very much, and congrats to you both on the new roles. Two questions. On the dividend payment, Nicolas, I think you indicated that excess capital is EUR 1.2 billion at the end of 2020. I assume that excludes the payment for the 2020 dividend. I was just curious as to whether there's any thoughts on paying a retroactive dividend for 2019, or do you see better use for that capital from an investment perspective? Then on the technology business, I believe it was back in 2016, you discussed some of the opportunities available from selling this platform and this technology to third parties. There were no hard commitments like you're making today back then, but you certainly brought it up, I believe, on some of the conference calls.
I was just curious as to what has driven the renewed vigor for this business now, say, over the past couple of years. Ultimately, what level of AUMs or client assets are currently serviced, or third-party client assets are serviced by ALTO? What level do you need to get to achieve that EUR 150 million of revenues by 2025? Thank you.
Nicolas, you take third-party AUM. I take question of technology and capital. I will begin by capital to be simple. Very simple. We have EUR 1.2 billion excess capital presently. Two situation. The first, we have something, an acquisition which fits to our criteria, reinforcing the three models, creating value, we will use this excess capital for this. In any case, what we have always said, if we are not this kind of opportunities, we will give it back to shareholders. Frankly speaking, the job of entrepreneur, it's to find good acquisition because we create more value. On the technology side of world, we have, I think, custom build that when we were promising something, generally, is that we are very highly confident to do this. If we give this figure of EUR 150 million, that we are confident. Why?
To announce this, we had begun, but now we have made adaptation of the organization in order to accelerate. This year, we have recruited about 20, 25 new people on this. We are now a part of the division, Amundi Technology, which is dedicated to new clients and so on. Now we are ready to accelerate, and that's the reason why we announce this.
For the AUM that are today serviced, I don't have the exact numbers. We will come back to you.
For third-party distributors?
Using ALTO.
Using ALTO. For the time being, it's limited. It's four or five, something like that.
Clients, you mean.
No, not for ALTO. No, for ALTO, it's 25 clients.
25 clients.
Thank you.
That's a question in AUM, but we'll come back.
In AUM, we don't have the figure, yes.
They are not all distributors.
Yes.
We'll come back with the exact figures on distributors.
Very well.
Thank you.
I confirm that when I mentioned EUR 1.2 billion of excess cap, after provisioning the dividend to be paid in May.
Okay.
Yes, thank you.
One or two questions, then we have to close. Of course, after Anthony, Nicolas, and Domenico can speak to you.
Our next question comes from the line of Angeliki Bairaktari. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question, and congratulations from me as well to you both. Just two questions. First of all, at the time that you had presented the previous plan for 2018 to 2020, if I remember correctly, you had given us an indication of retail net flows of around EUR 60 billion cumulatively. When I look now at what you have achieved, the number is closer to EUR 20 billion. I just wanted to hear your take with regards to sort of what might have not gone in the direction of the target. Was it a particular network that sort of didn't perform as you would have expected? Was it the market overall? Any insight on that would be useful for us. What do you consider to be the annual run rate that you can achieve going forward when it comes to the retail channel?
On M&A, would you be interested in growing your passive franchise via acquisitions? Thank you.
On the question of passive, we are interested permanently to improve all the kind of expertise and passive ETF among this expertise. After, it depends on the opportunities. What is sure, that we will reinforce them also organically by new teams and so on. On the question, you are right on the retail, but have in mind that during this three-year plan, we had a first semester with this financial correction of the market. We had this also in 2000.
Second half of 2018, we had two significant market downturn.
I mentioned in the introduction, it generates this risk aversion, which is probably, for me, the most important parameter for the net inflows in retail for long-term assets. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, really thank you for your attention and the life is always beautiful. Good day.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Thank you.