I'm Cyril Meilland, the Head of Investor Relations at Amundi. It is a pleasure to welcome you here at Amundi's U.K. head office for our new workshop on Asia. Fortunately, it's in London and not in Paris because I can tell you, if you think that the heat is strong here, it's way worse in Paris. I would also like to welcome those of you joining us online, and please appreciate the coolness of your home. In many ways, this workshop is long overdue, but as you will see, this is a key sequel to our Capital Market Day that we held back in mid-November, when we presented our new medium-term plan. Asia, as you know, plays a key role in this plan. It's half of the net inflows we're expecting over the period, so definitely something which is worth listening to.
Before we start, I need to draw your attention on our Indian activities. So to speak, the elephant in the room today, or Ganesh, so to speak. In many regards, this is a sacred elephant, and due to the contemplated transaction relating to SBI FM, which we announced in June 2025, we will not be able to cover India in detail today, either in the presentation or please, during the Q&A. We shall not take any questions regarding SBI FM, or India for that matter, in the Q&A. Please take a moment as well to read the disclaimer appearing on the screen. I have a very bad role here, but anyway. You should refer to this disclaimer when reading through this deck. Throughout the presentation, we will make a number of forward-looking statements and mention forecasts.
We call your attention to the fact that Amundi's actual results may differ from these statements. Some of the factors that may cause the results to differ materially are listed on our universal registration documents. Amundi assumes no duty and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. Let's turn to the speakers today. Fannie Wurtz is the Deputy General Manager of Amundi, Head of our Clients Group, and Chair of Asia. She will chair today's workshop as is normal. We are also joined by our Chief Investment Officer, Vincent Mortier, who many of you will already know well because he attended the last two workshops we've organized here. As well as Olivier Mariée, Head of Joint Ventures and International Partner Networks. I'm also very pleased to welcome Eddy Wong, our Chief Executive Officer of Asia, and Katsumi Fujikawa, Chief Executive Officer of Japan.
All the key members of our team in Asia will join, but remotely. We'll also hear from a selection of our clients and partners in the region. Let's turn to the agenda. Fannie will provide first an overview of our business in Asia before we go into more detail on the Asian market tailwinds and our approach on a country-by-country basis. We'll also look at our action plan for the region and how this contributes to our medium-term plan ambitions. After our presentations, we shall have time for all your questions, as always. As there will not be any Q&A session after each section, between the sections, please keep your questions for the end. We shall take questions from the room as well as online, and to ask them, as usual, please raise your hand, literally if you are in the room, and virtually if you are online.
In the latter case, please wait for us to open your mic, and please open your camera to make the dialogue more lively. As you can see on this slide, we have prepared a very short, I promise, very short questionnaire, for you to express how satisfied you will be, or not, with this workshop. This is extremely valuable for us, obviously, and we will be extremely grateful if you could fill the survey after the workshop. As a gift, you will get to tell us at the end of a survey what the next workshop should be about, and I know you have many ideas. One final word about methodology.
Throughout the presentation, the term joint ventures will apply to all our JVs in Asia, SBIFM in India, NH-Amundi in South Korea, and ABC-CA in China, and it also includes Amundi BOC Wealth Management, even though, as you know, it is fully integrated and usually not part of our JVs for the quarterly publications. We consider that it's a JV, and Olivier will tell you about the prospects. Conversely, compared to our quarterly publications, of course, Asian JVs in this presentation exclude ACBA, which is in Armenia. Debatable whether it's Asia, definitely out of the scope for the time being. As well as, of course, Wafa Gestion in Morocco. This is a bit more straightforward. With that, I now hand over to Fannie for the first part.
Thank you, Cyril, good to be back with all of you today. Good afternoon. Welcome to this workshop. Ooh. It's hot and moving. Focusing on Asia. I am Fannie Wurtz, Deputy General Manager and Head of Client Group of Amundi, obviously most relevant today, I'm also chairing our Asia operation and obviously in charge of steering the group strategy across that dynamic region. As you will see here, Asia is a very powerful engine for Amundi. It has delivered very strong and consistent growth over the past few years. We now manage EUR 470 billion in the region, which is four times more than a decade ago. During the previous plan, we attracted over EUR 80 billion of net inflows. Our growth is driven by our unique platform, combining global and local capabilities across the full spectrum of solution, technology, and services.
The region benefits from strong and compelling market tailwinds. First, the retail segment is growing faster in Asia than the rest of the world and over 10% annually. Second, the institutional client segment is very dynamic and represents very large pool of assets to address. Third, there is growing retirement needs, these are driving demand for investment solution. Finally, the Asia market is also characterized by strong diversification, whether in investment solution, geographic coverage, and providers. All of these trends open massive opportunities, you will see today that Amundi is very well positioned to capture them. Underpinned by this combination of scale, capabilities, growth, and supportive forces, we have a clear acceleration plan in Asia focusing on five key priorities, which we will detail later on.
A few months ago, we shared with all of you the six core pillars of our medium-term plan. Just let me give back and remind all of them. Client, geographies, solution, technology, efficiency, and investment. Asia is a core pillar of our future growth and a strong contributor of our medium-term plan. Concretely, our ambition is to raise EUR 150 billion of net inflows over the plan, which will represent half of the group overall target. The foundation of this ambition is our strong local footprints. We have been present in the region for over 50 years, building a solid platform and also very long-standing partnerships. We have developed a unique and complementary local setup with both a strong direct presence and highly successful joint ventures.
This approach is truly pan-Asian, with strong positions in all major markets: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand. Our setup is locally anchored with 12 offices, nine investment hubs, and over 400 people for direct presence. Now, let's look at our four successful joint ventures. You must know all of them. SBI Funds Management, ABC-CA Fund Management, Amundi BOC Wealth Management, and NH-Amundi Asset Management. Together, they account for over EUR 360 billion of assets. Beyond their scale, these joint ventures are strategic for the group and contribute around 10% of Amundi net income. These joint ventures are established in large, high-potential, and under-penetrated markets with high barriers to entry and supportive demographic trends. Our decision to partner with leading local banks is paying off.
This long-lasting model has delivered strong results. Now each of our four JVs is recognized in its all local markets as a local markets player. Now, let's turn to a fast-growing direct presence. Our assets have grown 12% annually since 2022. This represents twice the market growth in the region. We also benefit from a highly diversified business mix. On the client side, we address all client segments from sovereign, central banks, insurers, asset managers, private bank, and digital players. On the asset class side, we cover the full spectrum of investment solutions. We have a strong presence in active fixed income, multi-asset, equity, and obviously, ETF and indexing. In summary, we have a strong, locally anchored, and highly diversified profile that makes us highly resilient and well-positioned to accelerate even further. Now, let's pause and take a look at our institutional business.
We have built successful partnerships with key leader across the region. Our client base is highly diversified and pan-Asia. We now work with close to 200 institutional clients, including, as an example, 24 central banks and sovereign institutions across the region. We also work with leading insurers. For instance, we have a very strong partnership with China Life, the largest insurance group in China, for over a decade. We have also partnered with major pension leaders such as Manulife in Hong Kong, the largest player in Mandatory Provident Fund space. Recently, we have deepened this relationship across active funds and ETF. We are also developing innovative solutions with corporates such as Ant International, for which we have developed cutting-edge tokenized money market funds. We will come back later on this example. Finally, I want to highlight something.
Our responsible investment expertise is a key differentiating factor when serving institutional clients. Let me share with you one data point. In Asia, 50% of the RFP received include a responsible investment dimension. This momentum is clearly there. Amundi has a unique expertise that is highly recognized in the region. Let's look at our footprints across third-party distributors. We work with over 75 clients, representing EUR 27 billion of assets. Our client base is well-diversified, spanning all client segments. Let me focus on two examples to illustrate how this ecosystem works. First, DBS is a great example of the kind of partnership we have built in Asia. It's over long-term selective and focused investor needs. Together, we have developed two major CIO funds, which combine the local reach of DBS with Amundi's global platform capabilities. This is delivering cutting-edge solutions for clients to navigate market cycles.
Second, Resona, one of Japan's leading banks. For over two decades, we have built a durable partnership, expanding to new products. Recently, we have launched an innovative solution to meet a clear domestic demand as longevity and low rates reshaped client demand. This ecosystem of partners is central to how we expand and deepen our distribution footprint in Asia. Before I hand over to the team, I want to highlight our approach. Thank you. From a broader perspective, the key message I want to convey today is that Asia is not one single market. As a result, our strategy is guided by pragmatism and tailored to the specificity of each market. For the fast-growing market giants such as China and India, we have forged joint ventures to enter this market and grow footprint.
In international markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, we mainly operate directly, leveraging our global and local capabilities. In the next-gen markets, we have a local platform in Thailand and Malaysia, and we are exploring go-local opportunities for new frontiers, notably in South Asia. Looking ahead, we will expand our client reach across all markets. We will benefit from long-term tailwinds. I will now leave the floor to Eddy and Katsumi to go into more detail of those tailwinds.
Thank you, Fannie. Good afternoon, everybody. I can really feel the warm welcome from all of you coming from Asia. I'm Eddy Wong, CEO of Amundi Asia. We are delighted to be here today to share with you some of the perspectives of the key trends shaping the region. Let me start with retailization of investments. While retail dynamics are global, what is truly distinctive in Asia is both the size and the pace of the change. On the scale side, retail assets are up over 50% since 2020. We expect to continue to grow. On the growth side, the retail assets are growing faster than in the rest of the world. This retailization is driven by long-term dynamics. First, Asia has been witnessing sustained wealth growth and strong rising middle class.
Second, Hong Kong and Singapore are global cross-border hubs, serving Asian clients from offshore, unlocking all the access to the investment solutions. Hong Kong, by the way, has already overtaken Switzerland as the world's largest cross-border wealth hub. Singapore ranks number three globally. Asia has been witnessing a very fast-growing adoption of digital and hybrid savings as well. We see a rapid rise of digital pure players, and we also see growth investments into the digital channels on top of the traditional banks. This creates a highly attractive opportunity for us, and we are well-positioned to capture the trend. We already have a very successful partnerships with several leading digital platforms across the region. Endowus, a leading digital player, will speak later about the strength of the collaboration. Let's move to institutional. Very similar picture.
The insta asset base in Asia is growing very rapidly. By 2028, we expect to reach the market EUR 24 trillion. Here again, the pace is distinctive. Faster growth in Asia compared to other regions. This very strong momentum is powered by GDP expansion, the higher public asset pools, the larger pension schemes, central bank assets, and sovereign wealth funds. We are also seeing a clear acceleration of DC plan retirement assets. This is the fastest-growing segment in the region, with dedicated frameworks roll out across Asia. Katsumi will touch a bit more, later on. The sovereign investment vehicles are being created to consolidate state-owned entities. Overall, it represent a major growth opportunities for Amundi in the region. By leveraging our growth and the global local foundations, we are ready to capture the institutional needs in the long term. I'm going to pass the time to Katsumi.
Thank you, Eddy. Equally, I feel like home with the heat and humidity. I'm from Tokyo. My name is Katsumi. I'm CEO of Amundi Japan. The third next trend is a massive long-term retirement opportunity. Asia is aging very fast, and by 2050, the share of 65 and older in population will have almost doubled. At the beginning of the century, this ratio in Asia was much lower than in the rest of the world. This trend has now reversed, and the ratio is projected to become significantly higher than in the rest of the world in the future. Obviously, we can see some differences across the region. Some major markets like Japan or China is aging faster, but others, particularly in the Southeast Asia, have much younger populations. Overall, in the region, this demographic shift is creating a massive retirement savings gap.
This means the additional savings needed to maintain income during retirement is estimated to reach EUR 160 trillion by 2050. Most Asian markets have developed dedicated retirement frameworks to support these saving solutions. We can mention a few. The Nippon Individual Savings Account in Japan, or NISA, or Central Provident Fund, CPF, in Singapore, the Mandatory Provident Fund of MPF in Hong Kong, or the Individual Savings Accounts in Thailand or Taiwan called TISA. This is a long-term growth opportunity for the retirement solution across the region. Amundi, our new retirement business line, is a key enabler to capture this growing demand, launched as a part of a medium-term plan last November. This business line packages our investment solutions, technology, and services. Last but not least, diversification is also becoming a major trend for investors in Asia under today's geopolitical and macroeconomic context.
Asian investors are seeking increased diversification across asset providers, asset classes. This is a clear opportunity for Amundi as the first European asset manager and a top 10 global player. For instance, one of our leading Hong Kong retirement providers has increased its allocation to Amundi's European strategies, deploying over EUR 1 billion in the past 2 years. In short, Asia offers unique long-term opportunities on retailization, institutional asset growth, retirement needs, and diversification. As we will demonstrate later, we are very well-positioned to capture these opportunities. We are now going to take a closer look at our Asian activities. Let me hand over to Eddy, and also welcome on stage my colleague, Olivier Mariée, and remotely, Violet Wang. Eddy and Olivier.
Great to see you. I'm Olivier Mariée, and I'm the Head of the Joint Ventures and the International Partner Network. Let's now look at Amundi's approach market by market. As Fannie said, the key point is that Asia is not a single market, and you can't have a one-size-fits-all approach. Our strength in Asia comes from a pragmatic, locally tailored setup. It is particularly true in China, a fast-growing market giant. This is highly strategic for Amundi and covered mainly by joint ventures. We will also look at South Korea, another attractive market that we address mainly through our JV. Together with Eddy and Violet, we will walk through our approaches in this market. On India, as mentioned by Cyril, we will not talk about Ganesh. We will not detail our footprint given the contemplated transaction related to SBIFM.
One of our key strengths in Asia is access at scale to very large market players and their retail clients. This is why building JVs with leading local partners is key to growing in this market. In China and South Korea, we benefit from deeply rooted local distribution channels with an unmatched coverage, thanks to leading domestic players. Our partner in India and China have each around half a billion clients, which gives us fantastic access, sorry, to a total of over 1.6 billion retail clients, and still largely under-penetrated. Beyond our partners, our joint ventures are fully fledged platforms that address also local market opportunities, both on retail and institutional sides. To accelerate our growth journey further, we will focus on the following priorities. Firstly, increase mutual fund penetration within the client base of our partners. Secondly, accelerate digital distribution, notably with third-party distribution platforms.
Thirdly, leverage the broad institutional relationship of our partners, in particular on pensions and corporates. Finally, we will enrich our solution, for instance, in ETF, to better meet client needs. I'll lend the floor to Eddy and Violet to walk you through our setup in the Chinese giant market.
Thank you, Olivier. China is a great example of how we tailor our approach for local market needs. We have developed a uniquely comprehensive setup that combines the two JVs together with the fast-growing direct presence. Let's start with the two JVs in two different market segments. ABC-CA in the fund management businesses, covering traditional mutual fund and mandates. Amundi BOC in the wealth management business targets retail clients. Together, they account for about EUR 38 billion in terms of assets, and demonstrate very strong momentum in 2025, each raising EUR 2 billion in net flows. Let me introduce by video, Violet Wang, General Manager of Amundi BOC, who will detail our footprint and action plan for this JV.
Amundi BOC Wealth Management Company was launched in 2020 in partnership with Bank of China, the fourth biggest bank in China. The joint venture is majority-owned by Amundi. Amundi BOC accounts for around EUR 4 billion of AuM and collected over EUR 2 billion of net inflows in 2025. This strong momentum demonstrates the relevance of our offer in China and the strong opportunities in a market that is still under-penetrated. In fact, wealth management company Assets under Management in China are only around 20% of GDP, representing significant growth potential. To be successful in China, we believe it is key to be on the ground and ready to capture market opportunities as they arise. Let's look at the future and how we will accelerate our JV growth journey in China.
We plan to broaden our offer with new global asset allocation products and retirement-related solutions to capture strong retail demand. We will also target new ways to distribute our product digitally following first successes in this segment. We will focus on expanding our client footprint. We will notably push further to penetrate BOC's massive pool of over 500 million retail clients. We will also develop our third-party distribution beyond BOC to benefit from wider market opportunities. We will focus on retirement solutions, especially the third-pillar pension-related financial services. There are strong market opportunities driven by increased retirement needs. We remain committed to growing Amundi BOC over the long term and are benefiting from the tremendous market opportunities.
Besides Amundi BOC, we also have ABC-CA. This is a minority-owned fund management company in partnership with Agricultural Bank of China, the second-largest bank in China. ABC-CA manage around EUR 34 billion in terms of assets and has growth opportunities ahead. It will strengthen the investment solutions, and later this year, we'll be launching the first ETF, approaching a retail client base of 500 million. On top of the two JVs, we also have a fast-growing direct presence. We serve institutional clients from our Hong Kong platform, and we forge very strong partnership with Chinese insti clients, including Fosun China Reinsurance, Huatai Securities, and China Life. Our offshore institutional assets actually grown 24% CAGR over the last few years, reaching EUR 19 billion in terms of assets. We are super confident that our institutional direct client will continue to grow.
We will notably amplify our institutional reach by cross-selling our solution, targeting new segments, and helping Chinese corporates to invest globally. We are also well-positioned for cross-border schemes. Let me briefly explain what that even means. The Chinese government actually established dedicated framework and is progressively open up quotas to enable China high number of clients to invest overseas. The most prominent example I can raise today is the Qualified Domestic Limited Partner scheme, the so-called QDLP. Our quota, our Amundi quota, has increased at fourfold since 2020, and we are one of the top five QDLP provider. Going forward, we will continue to deepen our presence in this quota-based scheme and explore additional cross-border program, both in a traditional way, traditional fund way, and ETF way. Finally, we see growth opportunities on retirement. We have been mentioning this for a couple of times already.
The China pension market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the financial services industry. It's fueled with extension national retirement age and increasing demand of retirement solutions, where we explore the opportunity for Amundi to address the Chinese retirement market growth over the next few years. In summary, China is a strategic market for Amundi and a major driver for the Asia growth potential. Combining the JV with the direct presence, setting up form an integrated platform that position us as a top-tier international player in China and able to serve all client needs.
Great. Thank you, Eddy. Now we'll cover our footprint and ambition on the South Korean market. South Korea is a key market for Amundi, combining a strong JV platform and a growing direct presence. Our footprint there has demonstrated significant growth momentum in the past years. We secured EUR 16 billion of net inflows over the previous plan, and for the Q1, we gathered EUR 3 billion this year for Q1 this year. Let's deep dive on our joint venture. Our NH-Amundi JV manage today EUR 47 billion of asset. This reflects the strength of the partnership and the relevance of our product offering in a very dynamic market. Our JV has also delivered many achievements on retirement. The JV is the number 6 defined contribution pension leader and offer a bespoke defined benefit solution to the market.
It has also demonstrated strong investment performance, notably with successful institutional mandates and wealth management advisory. Finally, our JV has developed recognized flagship strategies, for instance, in Korean semiconductors. I now hand over to Eddy to cover our direct presence in South Korea.
Sure. We also have a great growing direct presence in South Korea, addressing it offshore from Hong Kong. We manage about EUR 6 billion in terms of assets, and we have built longstanding relationship with the leading insti clients, top-tier asset managers, banks, and insurers. Our direct presence is a strong pillar of growth for Asia and complement our approach in this market.
Now let's look ahead. We have a very clear acceleration plan to grow further our footprint in South Korea through our JV and also our direct presence. For NH-Amundi, we will keep growing our ETF share through digital channels, a strong product pipeline, and platform synergies. We will also accelerate on alternatives and private asset. This remains an important growth area for the JV platform, and we want to keep building momentum there. Finally, we aim to capture the opportunity in retirement and regulatory changes, especially on defined benefit pensions. In short, an ambitious plan to accelerate our growth journey. Eddy, can you share also what's our plan on the direct presence in South Korea?
Absolutely. On this front, the direct presence is really to diversify the client base. We want to grow further growth among insurers, retirement schemes, corporates, and other institutional clients. To reach this perspective, we really need to develop our core strengths. That means continuing to grow our capabilities, especially in the global and U.S. active strategies, the large opportunities in the ETF space. We will expand our solution offerings. We want to strengthen our OCIO services, develop ESG and sustainable offerings, and continue to build the partnerships with local players, notably through advisory. In short, our strategy is simple. Broadening client coverage, stronger core products, and a more diversified solution platforms. Overall, South Korea is an attractive market for Amundi, combining scale, growth, and diversification. Looking ahead, we will further expand our footprint and market share.
Thank you very much, Eddy. Let me now invite our colleagues on stage to take you through international markets in more detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Olivier. Hello, I'm Swaha Pattanayak. I work at the Amundi Investment Institute. It's my great pleasure to moderate this session, which is going to be, as Olivier said, dealing with Amundi's approach to Asia's international markets. Eddy Katsumi, great to have you with me on stage. We will also be hearing from Albert Tse, CEO of Southeast Asia for Amundi. Eddy, let me kick off with you. You mentioned earlier, if I remember correctly, that Hong Kong is the world's largest cross-border wealth hub. What is the approach that you and your teams are taking in Hong Kong?
Sure. Amundi has been in presence in Hong Kong since 1982. Since then, we have been continuing to grow. Hong Kong is a very dynamic market with a few key observations. First, the wealth growth. Secondly, the demand of the retirement products. Thirdly, the main connection of Mainland China. We are also, we as in Hong Kong, also serve as an offshore hub for China and Korea institutional clients. We are already serving a number of key pension providers and conglomerates. On this slide, maybe you can see BCT under the institutional boxes. BCT is one of the leading Hong Kong-based pension provider. It's founded by a consortium of eight banks. We are already one of their strategic partners. We are also responsible for managing as an overarching manager of some of the investment underlying.
Retirement is obviously something that has remained a key for the next few years for Amundi Asia. Switching gear to distribution and wealth, we have very strong momentum. We are expanding our offering. We are deepening our penetration. Citibank, as you can see, again, as an example, we have been strengthening the partnership over the last two years in Asia tremendously. That's across Hong Kong, Singapore, retail bank, private bank. There are a few very successful commercial success that we have done together. Namely, for example, the U.S. short-term bond, which is perfectly fit into the current market backdrop. The two firms have been working very closely. We are not only selling funds, but the overall solution to some of these distributors.
Thank you, Eddy. Katsumi, let me turn to you. You gave us a little bit of an overview in Japan. Could you give us a few more insights perhaps about your approach?
Okay. Maybe before talking about approach, let me describe Amundi in Japan a little bit. Amundi has been present in Japan for more than 50 years, five zero years, and we have EUR 27 billion of assets from Japanese client base. Also, in terms of the people, we have nearly 200 people, the professionals based in Tokyo, which makes Amundi one of the largest non-Japanese asset manager in the country. Our approach is to fully leverage our global research and investment capabilities to the Japanese clients. One of the features that differentiate us from the rest is that We have a Japanese domestic equity and a fixed income investment capabilities, and which is one of the few non-Japanese companies which is doing that. We have a good example of differentiating strategies that target Japan.
Strategy we have in Japan is really a example of a combination of global research with a local investment team, which has 20 years of track record in Japanese equity with nearly a EUR 1 billion worth of asset from both retail and institutional clients. Double-clicking the retail approach, we are working with various leading financial groups to develop a flagship funds, not only one, but the various flagship funds. I can give you a couple examples. First one is the material innovation funds, which recently launched in Japan with the SMBC Group, which raised almost EUR 1 billion in 3 months, is a thematic fund focusing on advanced and raw materials to offer a diversification potential with a capital growth in the future. Second example is the income opportunity strategy, working with the Resona Group for their clients' retirement solutions.
This strategy is very focused on return on investment, inflation adjusted, plus regular income. It's really a retirement needs is perfectly addressed in these strategies. Moving on to the institutions, we have various coverage, and we are collaborating with a leading players across the segment, sovereign, corporate pension funds, and financial institutions, to meet their diversification needs. We offer a variety of strategy for them to enable them to really build up a more balanced and global allocation portfolios.
Thank you, Katsumi. You gave us a really clear picture of the USP on the local level. Could you perhaps add a little bit more about the global capabilities that Amundi's bringing to Japan and how we are leveraging that?
Certainly. I think it is that Amundi's Europeanness, I would say, a client value that Amundi as a first European asset manager with a very disciplined investment approach and research capabilities. A good example is one of our partnership deal we did with Nomura Asset Management, one of the leading wealth manager with EUR 700 billion of assets. Let me just share a short video from Nomura Asset Management, to show how we closely work together.
The reason why we selected Amundi as the advisor for our European equity fund is because of Amundi's extensive research network focused on Europe, its in-depth ESG analysis capabilities, and its understanding of unique European themes, as well as its risk management approach, which leverages its scale. We will continue to provide exposure to European equities to Japanese investors through this fund. Interest in European equities among Japanese investors is on the rise. In fact, inflows into our fund have continued over the past year. First, for the equity solutions related to the food theme, we have selected Amundi and CPR Asset Management. Both companies possess a global research network, practical ESG evaluation experience, in-depth knowledge on food-related themes, as well as competent portfolio management capabilities. These strengths align well with the fund's objective of investing in companies that contribute to sustainable and sufficient food supply.
By incorporating the solutions of Amundi and CPR Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management can enhance access to active food-related investment opportunities from an ESG perspective, making it easier for investors to achieve long-term growth. Through collaborations such as these, we are committed to providing high-quality products and expanding access to diversified investment opportunities. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Amundi to expand our business for investors in the future.
We are very proud to work with a company like Nomura Asset, who is a leader in the industry. We are also, obviously, forging the partnership with other key leading companies in Japan to really provide our scale and also relevance in local markets and a solution to the local clients.
Thank you, Katsumi, both for the video and for explaining in more detail. We are now going to take a little bit of a closer look at Singapore with another short video. This time featuring Albert Tse, the CEO, as I mentioned earlier, of Southeast Asia for Amundi.
Amundi has been present in Singapore for almost 40 years. We now manage EUR 18 billion of assets and have a team of 70 employees. Singapore act as a strategic hub for us in Southeast Asia and serve clients from offshore, including in Cambodia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia. Our setup has demonstrated consistent momentum. Assets have grown by 21% per year since 2022, and we collected another EUR 1.5 billion of inflows in quarter one. With two third of our assets coming from institutional clients, Singapore serves as a hub for central banks and large institutional clients such as Singlife and AIA. The remaining third comes from distribution and wealth clients, where we work with leading partners such as Standard Chartered, DBS, and Endowus.
Our growth has been driven by three key factors: our early move into digital wealth, our ability to tailor solutions, and our strong capabilities in fixed income products. Looking ahead, our priorities are clear. We want to accelerate our growth by doubling the number of billion-euro distributors, deepening our retirement footprint, and targeting banks, insurers, and digital clients. Responsible investment is another important opportunity for us in Singapore. We want Amundi to be the first port of call for net zero and transition partnerships. One great example is our platinum sponsorship for Ecosperity Week 2026, hosted by Singapore's Temasek. This is a flagship sustainability event in the region, and we already opened many client opportunities for us. Last but not least, ETF remains a key growth driver across client segments. In short, Singapore will continue to play an important role in Amundi's growth across Asia.
We have a clear acceleration plan. Singapore will fully contribute to Amundi's overall ambition to reach EUR 150 billion of net inflows.
To illustrate what Albert has just shared, we're going to show you a very short video featuring one of the companies that he just mentioned, Endowus. It's a leading digital player in the region and a really strong partner for Amundi. Let's now hear from Samuel Rhee, Co-founder and Chairman of Endowus.
Most people in Asia have a strong culture of saving. The problem has always been the inefficient distribution of financial products, the lack of transparency. We saw a generation of people who are going to reach retirement age without enough saved up or not having invested well. Endowus was created to really close this gap that exists between what people need and what people currently have. Today, we serve over 300,000 individuals and families and institutions across Hong Kong and Singapore, and we are the largest independent financial advisory firm in Asia. Amundi has the scale, the track record, as obviously one of the largest asset managers in the world. Its broad capabilities span multi-asset, multi-strategy, deep, robust research capabilities that really sets them apart.
We also appreciate the efforts that Amundi has put in working together with us to be a truly local player, taking the strategic initiative to build out solutions specifically for CPF, working with us in Hong Kong, specifically solutioning for retirement, and all of this has been a critical part of why we appreciate Amundi more. Amundi funds represent the main feature of our core flagship model portfolios. In particular, we worked strategically to launch exclusive single fund offerings, including what are still the lowest cost passive index funds in Singapore. We really value the innovative spirit, co-creating content and thought leadership, as well as collaborating on financial literacy and education together across the region. We share the common values of doing right for our clients, offering what we consider the best-in-class solutions, and having a long-term strategic perspective of building the business together in Asia.
Amundi solutions sit among the most popular products on our platform, and I think it reflects the genuine trust in the outcomes those funds have delivered over time. We've therefore been able to scale the business in Singapore to multi-billion EUR of client assets. We also collaborated closely in our launch in Hong Kong a few years ago with Amundi, Hong Kong being our second market. Combining Amundi's investment expertise with Endowus' advisory model built on client trust, we can reach a segment of the market, particularly pension investors and first-time investors, that traditional channels have not really been able to serve very well. I think we have opportunities to expand the range of new strategies and solutions, not just in public markets or passive, but also in alternatives. That's an area where Amundi's product capabilities and our distribution can come together in a really meaningful way.
Over the next five years, we think that we can easily 5x or 10x our assets across the region and enter new markets together as well.
As you heard, Endowus is really a perfect illustration of the multifaceted way in which Amundi is delivering for our clients in the region. We've been a trusted partner, helping Endowus, as you heard, to grow, and notably to expand to Hong Kong. This relationship also showcases the way in which our pan-Asian presence and global expertise combined are helping us to serve our clients. Eddy, let me loop back to you. Albert mentioned in the video that Singapore is acting as a hub to serve Southeast Asia. Can you tell us a little bit more about Amundi's presence in the region as a whole?
For sure. Obviously, as you heard from Albert, Singapore is clearly the leader among the Southeast Asia region, and Singapore has been doing exceptionally well over the last couple of years. Albert touched on Singapore, maybe I will spend a bit of time on Malaysia and Thailand. We have local presence in Malaysia and Thailand, and for Indonesia and Philippines, we serve them from offshore in Singapore. Malaysia, we have about 20-plus people on the ground, including investment team, sales team, marketing. We are running over EUR 10 billion in terms of assets, and that put us easily among the foreign investment fund space, the top company. For the retail segment, we have been growing tremendously, and we are now one of the top six players. The key for Malaysia, acceleration.
Thailand, we also have people on the ground, the business has been growing tremendously as well. We are running at about EUR 2 billion in terms of assets, again, this is picking up. We have very close relationship with one of the, I think it's the top six bank, ttb, and we are also partnering with different partners like the insurers, the platforms, and the banks. Again, for Thailand, despite it's only right now EUR 2 billion, the key is really accelerating.
Thank you, Eddy. That's really clear. Could we perhaps move to North Asia, including Hong Kong? Could you give us some examples, perhaps, of some of the successful partnerships we have there?
For sure, that would be our landmark deal or the landmark partnership with Standard Chartered Bank. We have launched a Signature CIO Fund series a couple of years ago, and as we speak right now, it's already over EUR 3 billion in terms of assets, and growing. The money gathering is not only Hong Kong, but Pan Asia. We see a lot of good traction, good momentum, and this is a perfect combination or marriage even between Standard Chartered in terms of their global distribution capabilities versus Amundi's investment expertise.
Thank you, Eddy. As we heard earlier from Fannie, Amundi sees the potential for growth across the region and expects that all of these markets will contribute to its target of EUR 150 billion of net inflows over the timeframe of the medium term plan. Eddy, could I kick off with you on this particular point? What are your priorities in Hong Kong, specifically given this target?
Obviously Hong Kong, we have briefly touched on that a little bit earlier.
Yeah.
Let me just focusing on the priorities for Insti and the priority for distribution. Insti, we are pretty much the pension and the retirement space. We are already the leading player in terms of the pension market. We are the number 2 product provider under the Hong Kong pension scheme with the ETF as a tool. We are already partnering up with a lot of insurers in Hong Kong. We also see quite a bit of opportunities in Macau and Greater Bay Area, so Hong Kong is definitely strategically important. From a distribution perspective, Hong Kong, ETF is the opportunities. For Amundi, this is our core capabilities. We can do local listing. We can bring our UCITS ETF to Hong Kong. We can do cross listings.
There are a number of things we can tackle this market, and we can really see the not only the younger generation, but overall investors paying more attention to the ETF space. This is really our priorities.
Great. Katsumi, perhaps I could put the same question to you and your plans in Japan, given this medium term goal.
Certainly. I think really the first priority is to really consolidate our industry positioning as one of the leading non-Japanese asset manager in the country and accelerate the growth. I think Japan is facing very interesting macro environment right now, and also the micro environment right now because of the corporate governance transformation, monetary policy normalization, all these situation creating a lot of opportunity in Japanese equity and fixed income. Amundi is very well positioned as our local capabilities is really differentiated with our global research capabilities. We would like to focus on growing these domestic asset management businesses. Secondly, as I said, the institutional investors are really seeking for diversifications, and I think passive and ETF products is really enabling them for a flexible asset allocation dynamics.
We would like to penetrate the large asset owners with the ETF and the passive solutions going forward. Then the retail side, I think we see this NISA. This is a tax-exempt program, which actually igniting a new generation of investors through digital platform. We are really focused on penetrating into this new channel with both the index funds, with also the active funds, really to help all these new generation of investors to build asset for their portfolios. Finally, the recent partnership with ICG is really giving us an opportunity to provide a private market solutions for the wealth clients, which are one of the, a trend right now in Japan to diversify into the private markets, which are less correlated with the traditional asset. We are very well positioned to capture many long-term opportunities in Japan.
Thank you, Katsumi. It's really interesting to hear how the Bank of Japan. It's a major policy shift after decades of very low interest rates is playing out. Eddy, let me turn back to you. We haven't talked about Taiwan yet. Could you walk us, perhaps briefly, through why Taiwan matters so much for Amundi and also how you're approaching this market?
Sure. We have been in Taiwan for over two decades now. We have been covering both institution and retail clients. We have been providing onshore and offshore investment solutions. We have over 60 people running about EUR 7 billion in terms of assets. One of the major key trend for Taiwan over the last couple of years is ETF. The ETF has been growing tremendously. We will be participating into it. We are expanding our fund range, deepening our offering, penetrating the distribution. This is really something, again, Taiwan being one of the largest ETF market in Asia, we are eager to participate.
Thank you very much. Eddy, Katsumi, thank you both. You've given us some really concrete examples of the dynamism of Asia and the huge diversity, which Fannie, Olivier, all of you have mentioned. It's calling for a really tailored approach to each market, as we've heard. Thank you also for highlighting how we are leveraging our global and local capabilities to deliver this very tailored approach, and obviously the strong growth potential across all of these markets. We are going to take a 15-minute break, but just to flag what we have ahead when we come back, we will be looking in more detail at the breadth of Amundi solutions and capabilities in Asia. We're going to also share our action plan to accelerate our growth in the region.
Finally, we will wind up with a Q&A to address anything all of you here in the room and also online may want to ask. For those of you in the room courageous enough to brave the heat today, do feel free to step outside and have some refreshments. For those of you who have joined us on Zoom, please stay connected to the platform, and we'll be back in 15 minutes. That's a quarter past 3:00, I make it on my clock. Thank you very much.
Okay, hello back. We are resuming our workshop with Vincent Mortier, our CIO, who will present you with our capabilities both locally and what we can bring to Asia as, well, global strategies.
Local. You will see. Just to tease you. Thank you, Cyril. Good afternoon, everyone. I think after the first part, you are quite hot, I will try to keep the heat. I'm Vincent Mortier, Group Chief Investment Officer. Let me share with you the comprehensive offer we bring to our clients in Asia. What truly differentiates us is the strength of our global and local platforms. We cover the full spectrum of investment solutions, combining active management, traditional ETF and indexing, private assets and alternatives, model portfolios, and all kind of wrapping solutions. We can deliver to our clients core investment building blocks across all asset classes, some very tailored solutions, advisory and model portfolio solutions, overlays, and comprehensive outsource CIO services.
Beyond investment solutions, we have also built, as you know, a technology offer at scale with ALTO across the entire value chain. It has delivered value-add services to over 80 clients in more than 15 countries globally, and of course in Asia as well. On top of that, we bring strong capabilities in servicing, in marketing, in training, and of course, responsible investment. When it comes to Asia, our strengths come from our multifaceted model, combining global scale with deep local relevance. In total, as you know, we manage over EUR 2.4 trillion of assets globally, and our investment management capabilities are built on two pillars. First one, we have global capabilities, which are the foundation of our ability to deliver to our clients relevant expertise. We are the largest European asset manager, the biggest non-American, and a top 10 global player.
Secondly, we have local expertise in Asia, combining direct presence and our joint ventures. Together, they represent over EUR 400 billion of locally managed assets that gives us a proximity to clients and a very deep local insight. Now let's now take a closer look at each of these pillars. First, let's start with our full range of global investment capabilities, which span all asset classes. Our platform is powered by over 1,000 investment professionals, and that includes around 600 portfolio managers, around 100 financial and ESG analysts, and 50 Amundi Investment Institute experts, the rest being investment specialists. It has demonstrated consistent high performances with over 230 funds rated four or five stars by Morningstar. Our strong presence is widely recognized across Asia, as shown here on the slide by multiple awards we recently received. You can see them on the slide.
We have also established strategic partnerships with some recognized players. For example, First Eagle Investments, Victory Capital, and more recently, ICG. These partners' expertise perfectly complement our capabilities, and for instance, Victory and First Eagle bring us strong U.S. strategies. This is pretty valuable, especially in Asia, where U.S. allocations still represent a significant share of the investment mix. All of that, we believe makes Amundi a true one-stop shop partner for all our clients in Asia. Before moving to our local capabilities, I want to underscore the importance of the Amundi Investment Institute, which is our in-house macro and strategy research unit. It combines local proximity and with global expertise to serve our clients alongside, of course, the other investment management teams.
We believe it positions us as a trusted partner that can deliver high-value insight to help our clients interpret major shifts in both global but also Asian markets. Most importantly, it is a key enabler for advisory and also CIO services, which are very much appreciated by Asian institutions at large. Amundi's thought leadership is well-recognized, and our recent Amundi World Investment Forum is a good illustration of it. This event brought together quite a broad audience, international, in Paris, including many Asian clients who took the time to travel to the event and engage with us on key industry topics. Our capabilities are also complemented by a strong local expertise. We operate through five investment hubs: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, and Kuala Lumpur. These local hubs have 80 investment professionals, and they manage over EUR 50 billion of assets.
Our teams today have a broad range of local capabilities. For example, multi-asset with OCIO and discretionary portfolio management. Of course, Asian equities and Asian fixed income with both regional and country-specific focuses. As part of our Asia ambition, we are committed to strengthen our capabilities on the ground, and we'll focus on all the clusters. ETF, private markets, retirement solutions, and all the other key building blocks. Given the strong market appetite for income solutions everywhere, but especially in Asia, we will position as well Amundi as a house of income, and we will propose a full-fledged income range across fixed income, multi-asset, and equities. We'll also look to develop innovative, smart return solutions for corporates.
We'll expand our Asian range to thematic strategies. We'll have as well local investment teams co-manage some global products in partnership with our teams in Europe. In short, our ambition is to establish an empowered Asian investment hub with a broader product range, stronger and more local decision-making powers. Our local expertise is also underpinned by our joint ventures, which are a cornerstone of our model in Asia. They represent over EUR 360 billion of AuM, with a very strong focus on active management. It is powered by four teams, totaling 250 investment professionals. They bring very deep expertise across Indian, Chinese, and South Korean markets. They also provide very actionable investment ideas to our own investment teams, benefiting ultimately to our clients and our processes. Our JV's investment management capabilities have demonstrated very strong momentum, with recognized flagships in their home market.
A few examples to be highlighted. NH-Amundi on Korean semiconductor or K-pop, which is quite fashionable. ABC-CA on China new energy equity thematic fund. All these expertise are also clearly recognized with top industry awards, as it is illustrated in the slide. This strong on-the-ground expertise is a key differentiator factor for Amundi. It completes fully our range with local solutions and serves both local and global needs. Before I finish, I would like to share two client case studies, which will highlight our capabilities and our innovation experience. Let's start with ttb. ttb is the sixth-largest commercial bank in Thailand. They have partnered with Amundi for more than a decade. Let's hear what Navin Intarasombat, Head of Wealth Securities Business, has to say on the partnership and how it has developed.
ttb Bank is the sixth-largest commercial bank in Thailand. As for our ambition regarding the wealth business, we have a sizable market share. The partner must have global access. The access to diversified as well as international with high-quality assets would be the most critical criteria. Having a strong team, which provides senior management engagement and commitment to our bank, would be very important. Lastly, I think the collaboration between the banks, the perseverance, and ability to work together to address the challenges is also very important. Amundi team has the ability to undertake very strategic thinking. The solution that we have developed together has been successful. Amundi has a very diverse portfolio of products, such as active, passive, ETF, multi-asset, fixed income, and liability-driven solution. Effectively, one counterparty provides many needs to our platform.
In the year 2021-2024, Amundi developed the strategy and became a fund of funds provider of the solutions for our products. We established five funds together. In 2025, early January, we increased three more solutions, which focus on multi-asset strategy. Within 11 months of the creation, we were able to achieve $1 billion in terms of assets. Not just the size, but also the performance that Amundi was able to deliver to us. Those new strategies are one of the leading funds in terms of performance and risk. This is something that we consider a flagship strategy for ttb Bank as of today.
As you've just seen, this goes far beyond just a traditional client relationship. It reflects a true partnership, which is built on a strong cross-border collaboration. Another success story we are delighted to share is Ant International. Ant International is a leading Chinese digital payment and financial technology provider. It is a financial services arm of the digital giant Alibaba, who is the creator of Alipay. It connects more than 50 million merchants globally and processes millions and millions of transactions every day. Amundi has provided Ant International with a cutting-edge, ready-to-use tokenized money market platform. This solution meets the client's real-time investment needs. Now let's hear Kelvin Li, General Manager, Head of Global Fund Platform.
Ant International is a leading global digital payment and a financial technology service provider. We hold the aim to actually using the latest technology, like blockchain and AI, to build the future of payments. Within this vision, one of the key technology innovations that we need to make is to make money movement 24/7 instantly, and this needs to be achieved in a very cost-efficient way. What we are trying to jointly solve with Amundi is to make tokenized money market fund, and in the future, more tokenized assets to be able to purchase and redeem 24/7 and instantly around the world.
During the process, we worked very closely with Amundi to address some of the key challenges to allow it to be seamless, secure, compliant, which will support the real 24/7 instant purchase and redeem from our customers to allow this to be able to happen around the clock. We have been using blockchain in our treasury management since 2019, when we launched a blockchain-based treasury management platform called WILL Treasury Platform. Basically, on these platforms, we allowed tokenized bank money and other tokenized assets to be circulated, move on the blockchain 24/7 instantly, securely, and also in a compliant way. Firstly, Amundi is very technology-driven. It is eager to embrace a new technology revolution, and based on that, to create new product, new customer experiences. The same as us.
Secondly, we found that Amundi do have a global vision, and their global team works seamlessly with us on this strategic initiative. I think it made us a perfect match. At the end of May, we have already launched the first collaboration in which Amundi produced tokenized money market fund for us as an investment vehicle. Now we're talking about the next step, which we are going to expand the collaboration probably to more currencies and more different asset class, and also to more geographic area to allow real-time investment by a tokenized money market fund and other tokenized product to be able to serve treasurers like me and many others like you.
Thank you, Kelvin, for the warm testimony and the hot prospects. In short, our partnership with Ant International is quite a strategic step for us into the future of distribution. We will bring Amundi's expertise into the digital ecosystem to reach clients at scale with some new channels. I hope you are as convinced as I am, and all the great team around, that we have the strong foundation and the roadmap to be a trusted or the trusted partner for all our clients in Asia. With that, back to Eddy, who will take you through our action plan. Eddy, the hot floor is yours.
Thank you, Vincent. Let's now turn into action. I will cover what we intend to leverage our capabilities and execute our strategy to reach the EUR 150 billion inflows. Five clear pillars that deepen and expand our client reach across Asia. First, wealth. We will lead the hybrid and digital wealth acceleration, forge strategic partnerships with leading players. Amundi has a strong partnership DNA, as you know. This can be demonstrated by our successful partnerships with Standard Chartered, ttb and Endowus. Our ambition is to increase our number of wealth clients by 50%, with a particular focus on private bank and digital platforms. Second, institutions. We will strengthen cross-selling with our public institutional clients. For private institutions, we will leverage our fixed income range and top-performing equity strategies. We will further target corporates.
This is a key client segment with huge growth potential across the region to support corporates to allocate their cash positions, like what Kelvin just said, locally and worldwide. For insurers, we will deepen our penetration and co-develop OCIO solutions. Here again, the ambition is to grow 50% of the client by 2028. Thirdly, as Olivier mentioned, JV. We have to cement our JV leadership and continue to explore new opportunities. This really remain as the key pillar of our model in Asia, giving us the local scale and the market access. Significant growth opportunities lie right ahead of us. We will further penetrate our partners' retail client base of over 1.6 billion people. Fourth, retirement. We have been mentioning this for a number of times now. This is the largest structural growth opportunities in Asia, and we already have a good and strong footprint here.
For instance, we are the fastest-growing index provider in CPF in Singapore. We have over 20 funds eligible for NISA in Japan. Besides, we have strong partnerships with leading institutional clients and Asian pension funds, and that demonstrate that we are trusted go-to retirement partner in the region. We will expand the offerings and reinforce our position in the existing schemes in every local market. For instance, we will monitor regulatory developments to ensure we stay at the forefront to bring new solution to the market. We will explore inclusion of ETFs and private assets when it becomes eligible for certain schemes. Last but not least, the new frontiers. We will actively explore opportunities in attractive new frontiers, especially in this case, Southeast Asia markets. We are already addressing this market from offshore, but we want to explore go-local opportunities, whether organically or through JVs.
The message is simple: deepen client relationships, broaden market reach, keep building Amundi's platform in Asia. To support this acceleration plan in the region, we have to continue to strengthen our platform. First, we have to expand our solution capabilities. The next slide. Our ambition is to be the trusted one-stop-shop partner to all clients. To achieve this, we need to keep strengthening our core capabilities and stay at the forefront of product innovation. This starts with reinforcing our foundations, a broader range of local capabilities across Asia multi-asset, equity, and fixed income strategies. It also means expanding product offerings beyond the current footprint to fully address the breadth of the client needs. Finally, it means continue to lead in product innovation. Amundi is already in the forefront of innovation in this industry, as demonstrated by what Kelvin has just shared with you about tokenization.
We will keep building on that momentum and push the boundaries wherever possible. We will invest in our talent and the excellence of our platform. Our ambition is to increase our headcount by 30% with a focus on investment professionals. This will be a key step to build a stronger and more scalable platform. Our acceleration plan in Asia is bold and ambitious, we are ready to seize the opportunities ahead and to accelerate our growth. That's all from me. I'll pass the floor back to Fannie to conclude the Asia Investor Day.
Thank you all. I hope we have demonstrated today that we have a significant growth opportunity in Asia. Our ambition is to raise over EUR 150 billion of net inflows. We are confident in our ability to reach our targets by focusing on the five key pillars that Eddy mentioned, forging strategic partnerships with leading wealth players, expanding the coverage across all of the institutional segments, cementing the leadership of our joint venture, and exploring new joint venture opportunities Becoming the preferred partner for all retirement needs and capturing fast-growing opportunities in new frontiers. Together, all of us, we have a clear and structured roadmap to deliver our ambition in Asia. That's all from me, That's all from all of us, I will now hand over to Cyril to take us through the Q&A, I think we are all going on stage.
Thank you, Fannie. As Fannie said, we will now have a Q&A session. It will last as long as it takes.
But not-
You have more or less the opportunity to ask any questions you want. We will possibly start from the room. If you have a question, please raise your hand, and if you don't have any questions here, we will move to the Zoom session. Any questions? Yeah, Tom. Tom Mills from Jefferies.
Thanks very much. Tom Mills from Jefferies. Just wanted to ask about how maybe the digital distribution channels vary across the different areas that you're distributing in Asia. How much of a nuanced approach are you having to take around that? Is there a lot of scalability in what you can do around those areas by partnering with the same person, not same entity? Thanks.
[audio distortion]
Maybe just to supplement. When it comes to digitalization, there are locations whereby there are more digital distributors, Singapore and Taiwan as an example. There are also locations whereby they are more into the digital assets, like China, Hong Kong. The digitalization kind of thing is everywhere, different locations might have different priorities. From Amundi perspective, we talk to the clients, we talk to the distributors, we see what are they actually looking for, and we cope with them. This is really the solution base as a manager that can actually cater the needs for the investor.
Potentially what we could also add is that digital is serving both actually the wealth side, but as well, the retirement side, where everything is already very hybrid.
If I may, of course, when you look at the client base of the JVs, it's going to be a great accelerator to penetrate more this client base. Thanks to, let's say, the digital app that the bank are launching and promoting heavily.
Any other question from the room? No. No question from Zoom. It's been so clear.
Clear or so hot?
Hot.
Yeah.
Now there's a heat.
Potentially we can invite everyone to do an in-session on-site in Asia as well to deep dive further.
Just one second. I have one question from Hubert Lam at Bank of America. Hubert, trying to open your mic.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can. Yeah. Hello.
Okay, great. Thank you. I've got three questions. Firstly, recently there's been a crackdown in China on cross-border investments in Hong Kong. Can you talk about the implications of this for you and broadly for the sector? Second question is on M&A. Would you consider doing M&A to get access to some of the countries in the next gen where you are currently under-penetrated, or is the focus on building organically and with new joint ventures? Lastly, just wanted to ask about penetration alternatives in your Asian channel. How big of an opportunity is this, and is there appetite for these type of products? Thank you.
Just want to go to.
China?
Okay, I will take the first one.
China is okay for you?
Okay. I will take the first one. In fact, we were just talking about this, the really same topic from one of the participants here. From our perspective and, Vincent, please supplement if I missed anything. I think overall, we continue to see very supportive measures from Hong Kong or China perspective in a sense of encouraging mainland investor to invest globally in a legitimate way. This is really something that I think is the key difference between how people articulated. From Hong Kong perspective over the last one, two weeks, I do not see any kind of slowdown in a sense of from mainland China perspective to invest offshore. As we have mentioned in some of our sessions earlier, the QDLP quota, as I mentioned, it continues to be demand over supply.
We continue to need to work with different distributors to making sure we are able to cater to more investors and as diversified as possible. I do not think this will be anything long-term. I do believe that the foundation of Hong Kong being one of the major Asia financial hub, and obviously the main connection with Mainland China, will not change. I'm not too worried about it.
Vincent?
Absolutely. Just one compliment as well. What is interesting to monitor as well is how, in Mainland China, investors will start to invest more into Chinese assets. It used to be very real estate, for more than half of the wealth, and deposits, short-term deposits, bank deposits. Now, real estate investment has been stabilized or decreasing, and we just start to see some shifts from short-term deposits to more productive, let's say, medium-term investments, so equity, long-term bonds. It's only the start. It's very important because given the pool of money that is sitting in bank accounts, it can be meaningful, and I suspect it will be a big support for the Chinese markets going forward. Not to mention as well, one day there will be a renewed interest by foreign investors to buy Chinese assets.
We are not yet there, but it will come on the back of a strong diversified economy and good GDP growth figures and valuations which are more attractive, let's say, than many other markets. Outbound, Mainland Chinese investor going abroad, that will continue, and indeed under certain rules. I don't believe China has an interest to block everything. What will be the next engine will be a reallocation of savings towards financial markets, in particular equities. That's the next leg to come in the next years. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.
The next question was about M&A and how to penetrate maybe the next-gen countries.
Er-
I suppose, Fannie and Olivier on the JVs.
Yeah. Actually, Amundi, as you know, our story has been both organic growth and obviously our external opportunities and external growth opportunity. We have a very good track records about value creating. We are seen as a natural consolidator for our industry. Obviously, we will consider as usual, even getting closer to our clients, reinforcing and continue to accelerate some of their capabilities we've been doing. As usual, the approach is very disciplined and selective, where we must ensure that the execution risk is manageable, that the proceed will create long-term value for shareholders, for our clients, and the good financial discipline that Cyril is very used to comment whenever talking about M&A. I don't know, Olivier, whether you.
No.
Just add. The third question, I.
Third question was about alternatives and how, what are the prospects basically across Asia. Hubert, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that was the idea.
On the alternatives. More broadly, Vincent, I don't know if you want to comment on private markets and notably on the ICG partnership.
Yeah. Private markets, I think we have a very clear on our strategy. We don't intend to do ourselves onshore private markets in Asia. It will be difficult. It's a very competitive specialist market. I don't say we never do anything, but it's not our strategy to be standalone on that. We need to partner with credible people, either through multi-management, that's an Alpha Associates acquisition. We did EUR 23 billion of assets overall, a credible platform, multi-manager. Also some other specialists. ICG is a good example of that. As you know, we are in the process of taking 9.99% of the capital.
.9.
9.99%. It's not-
You know it very well.
it's on the way. ICG, more than 30 year of experience, has a long-standing presence into Asia. They are launching new funds, new processes based on Asian assets with Asian teams.
Structured capital, Asian infrastructure. Clearly, all these new launches, we will look at them.
Market them.
Market them to our clients, in particular on the wealth management part into Asia, from Japan to Singapore, Hong Kong, et cetera. We prefer to be in a close partnership with someone we know and where we have a privileged access than to shop around multiple partners that we know less well and that are already in partnership with many people.
Katsumi, we discussed about some opportunities in Japan.
Yeah, that's right. I think alternatives are pretty much really the strategy for institutions for many years. In Japan recently, in the last few years, it's becoming really a common theme for the private bank type or wealth management clients. I think this ICG partnership is very timely for us to really work with our distributors on this strategy. Because a distributor really wants to have a differentiated, attractive strategies with a good track record, and also innovative products as well. This, as Vincent mentioned, Asian infrastructure, for example, is one of the, I think, interesting capabilities of ICG, as well as European infrastructures. I think it is a pretty interesting situation right now in Japan in terms of alternatives.
Just may add to that, in Korea, with NH Amundi, we have some private asset capacities, some good track record, and this is a growing business clearly in this market.
Thank you. Hubert, do you have any follow-up? No. We move to Pierre Chédeville of Crédit Mutuel CIC. Pierre, I think you should be able to open your mic.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can. Go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. First question is regarding your personnel. As far as I understand, you mentioned that you would like to increase your staff by 30%. I was wondering how many people it represents and what type of staff do you want to hire? Second question is regarding Amundi Technology. Do you have any ambitions in Asia to sell this product? What could be, I would say, the amount of revenues that, if it is the case, you could ambition to win there? Third question is regarding ESG. What is your view regarding ESG product in Asia? Are they, like in Europe, very important in your strategy or less, or more? I don't know. Last question, it's more a precision than a question. It's about the slide 35. What is exactly and how does it work exactly, the OCIO, outsourced CIO?
I don't represent exactly how it works. Thank you.
Maybe we can start with this one because it's probably the shortest.
Vincent can make two hours on this slide.
Vincent can speak at length about this. One precision about the first 30%, it's written on the slide. There's a footnote. It compares with the end of 2024. Do not add 30% to the 420-something people that we mentioned because this is the situation as of today. It's not exactly the same base. Vincent?
Yeah, sure. CIO is a kind of industry wording for, I think, which is not always very well chosen because it is frightening many clients. In fact, it's when an investor, let's say an asset manager, a bank, an insurer, wants to outsource or to delegate part of the value chain of investment. Generally, they keep their CIO. The CIO is not outsourced per se, but they outsource investment teams. Typically, we did deals recently where, with a big French institutional investor, we took over all the books and the investment teams to manage on their behalf, all their strategies. They kept the CIOs, they kept some capabilities. They can also outsource the system, virtual system, the PMS, the research, the issuer, the advisory around it, portal models. It's very tailor-made.
There is not a single unified offer of what is Outsourced CIO, the principle is when a client thinks he's not big enough to entertain or to justify the cost of a full setup. Here, our value proposition is very simple. With us, it will be better and less expensive. Normally, it's a killer for clients. Normally, not always.
And-
That's very simple, and we have made tens of deals like this in the past.
They are all different. In Asia, we did a few of those.
It's very tailored, at the end of the day, the bottom line is always to give a critical mass to clients.
Yep.
Actually, it's a clear acceleration trend in the industry, where obviously you will need better, actually, capabilities, investment capabilities, be it active, passive, private markets, potentially open architecture, rely better on their very solid infrastructure. Typically, there are many actors that will concentrate on all the type of the business, outsourcing to big firms capable of handling that, and typically us, where they are, I will say, in good hands to manage their capabilities.
If I can just add one comment on this. While Vincent is saying it's very simple, actually, it also has to be reliable. I think this is really the key of OCIO. It actually takes a lot of capabilities, experience, understanding, and discussion to making sure that we, as the OCIO or the CIO, able to deliver on a day in, day out basis what are the investment decisions, whether the investment decisions from the client is legitimate, and we can give them advice or not, whether this is really the right way of doing the portfolio and move on. This is really the great effort by the investment team and the business team over the last couple of years. As an example, the SCB Signature CIO series, that we become a bit famous on this. That's why we have different demand.
If I may, just one last comment, just to approach it's interesting to me. OCIO deals, the client is keeping the decision-making power. If a client were to outsource everything, he would just give us a mandate.
We manage on his behalf a mandate. That's it. At the end of the day, the client is always involved in the final decision-making. Generally, still having investment committees that we participate to organize. That's a slight difference between a pure mandate that's easy, you delegate everything, and OCIO, which is more in between, let's say.
Okay. Understood. I will no longer make any assumption as regards the length of the response. Fannie, you had an additional comment.
Regarding the staff, obviously we say 30%, whenever you look at the figures, it will be roughly 100 people that we will progressively relocate or hired from Asia. Obviously, given our growth, we will relocate investment capabilities, develop obviously a business fronting function, but as well support functions to continue to accompany, obviously our growth, getting closer to our clients and developing more and more solution from our clients. We will do it gradually, obviously a function of our business development. On Amundi Technology, obviously, as you know, we've been performing very well on Amundi Technology about the last few years. Asia is obviously part of the plan. We already have five clients in four countries and some prospects in Amundi Technology.
We will be committed to continue to invest into talent, partnership, and scalable platform, we don't give the detail here and there per se, within that function. To come back on your ESG question, I will give you a general statement, and then we will have a lengthy answer and flavor from both Eddy and Katsumi. Our very strong responsible investment DNA is making us a very good advantage whenever partnering in Asia, where obviously, as we stated in the presentation, 50% of our RFP received to incorporate in Asia and responsible ESG flavor. Obviously, this makes us a very good advantage and potentially to equal on it. Eddy, I'll let you give some, I will say flavor from Asia, Ecosperity, and all of the stuff that you've been developing.
Sure. Very quickly. I think from an ESG perspective, it could be a bit more institutional than distribution. I think institutional clients or sovereign clients really have the responsibility to really not looking at the performance only, but overall, the responsibility as a corporates. In general, I think Insti, as we speak, there are already a couple of discussions, RFP, that we are working on, making sure that the Insti client, on top of getting the performance they want, they also needs to take care of a bit of the responsibility on climate or on anything. We've shown the Ecosperity video. I'm not going to repeat it.
This is really something as a further commitment as the obviously top 10 player, largest European player in Asia, that we continue to not only just for making money, but also making responsible advice to the clients and continue to deploy our resources there. Katsumi.
Yes, I think similarly to what Eddy said, even in Japan is similar situation that the ESG is a very institutional theme. I think we are facing maybe a stage 2 of the ESG investing in Japan for institutions. Initially, they've started with just utilizing some of the indexes which are provided by Morningstar or S&P's scores, like ESG indexes, which screen some of the companies on the basis of ESGs. Now I think they have reviewed all this performance of these indices, and I think they are going to the next stage of how to really integrate properly ESG into their portfolio with a clear economic return associated with it.
I think it is a very interesting situation in Japan now that all the retirement programs, which are even becoming more sophisticated and really just thinking about the long-term investment, is incorporating ESG themes more than before. I think we are well-positioned to advise them on probably the stage 2 of the ESG investing in Japan.
If I may add just one small thing.
On OCIO.
On ESG, what we see as well is a kind of 50 shades of ESG, which is in terms of companies, we see more and more requests and issue of clients regarding voting. They want to understand how we vote. Sometimes they ask to have their own voting policy. That's very important for them. Engagement and stewardship, it's also very important. Even on a non-ESG portfolio, let's say, more and more clients, they want us to explain voting stewardship. You can have some very focused impact investing stuff, some screening, some exclusion-based, some best-in-class, whatever. We see more and more diversity of implementation and sensibilities. Our goal is to be able to accommodate all that. Typically, in Japan or in Hong Kong or in Singapore, we've got ESG teams.
We've got our own voting team with people in Japan.
Very important.
typically, because to vote in Japanese is better to understand Japanese. Engagement, generally. Engagement is the same. That's more and more a differentiating factor. We have won recently business on many topics, including a traditional index, where this component was key to win the business.
If I may add two short comments to what was just said. Obviously, the responses you got on tech, OCIO, ESG, are just an illustration of how much services have become important. We've been hammering this since basically the previous strategic plan. It's a good illustration of what we're able to do. The other comment was regarding the plus 30%. Obviously, the 30% growth in the FTEs in Asia are part of the EUR 800 million of investments we have earmarked in the previous medium-term plan. It's fully compatible with the financial trajectory. It's needless to say, but it's better to be said.
Good.
We can move to a question from, again, Zoom. Anna, I think your mic should be open. Yes, go ahead. No, we cannot hear you.
Now, maybe.
Yes.
I think.
It's okay. Yes.
Okay, perfect. Thank you so much for your presentation today. I just have three questions, if that's all right. The first one is on fee margins. There's been notable regulator intervention on fee rates in India, but also China. Do you expect that to continue in those markets? Perhaps, do you expect anything similar in other markets? Just on regional success stories. SBI has been a clear success story for Amundi, as it's the largest asset manager in its country. I was just wondering if Amundi sees potential for any of its other businesses in Asia to become number one or two players in their respective markets. The last one, just on profitability. More broadly, SBI FM accounts for 60% of Amundi's Asia AUM, while the other 40% is fairly well-diversified.
I was just wondering, for that 40%, can you give us a sense of what the operating margin is and the potential there for operating leverage and scale gains? I appreciate that you need to invest for growth, but maybe you could give us a sense of where the operating margin could trend to by the end of the current plan, assuming you deliver targets, and perhaps over the longer term. Thank you.
Okay, we are getting very close to the red lines and maybe sometimes overpassing them. We won't be commenting about India, obviously, and not about the fee margins. Maybe the trends in some of your countries, that could be macro trends, not for Amundi. If you want to-
I can take a shot.
I'll give it a shot. I think in general, again, not referring to a specific business line on Amundi, we all see a bit of a margin squeeze here and there. Again, that also provides some opportunities, and I can give you an example. For example, a lot of the retirement scheme, a lot of the pension scheme, in general, the government or the regulator is encouraging a lower fee within the scheme. Amundi are definitely coming to the right place in the sense of whether or not we can work with the pension provider, whether we can work with the regulator to see how we can adjust and fine-tune the scheme, so that while the overall fee could be reducing from an investor perspective, it's not like we cannot make money.
In fact, by putting in different kind of investment tools, actually, we can even potentially increase some of the performance. Maybe-
With ETF and index typically, as we have a full-fledged platform, once again, having from active, private market, ETF, and index, we are capable to design whatever is the solution in whatever is the jurisdiction that is needed. Frankly speaking, looking at Asia, we can grow and Asia will grow as well.
I think the general comment we usually make, either on Asia or any other type of business, is we are product-agnostic. We do what our clients demand, and we are able to be profitable in every single business line or every single product we sell. Complemented, obviously, by services and technology that improve further the revenue trends. Any other question? I don't see any on Zoom. Any in the room, for those of you who haven't melted yet? No. Okay, I think that calls it today. Thank you very much.
Thanks, everyone. Thank you.
Again, please.
Oh
there is
Another-
survey that we
Another survey
very much like you to fill.
Survey.
A survey.
yes, a survey.
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