Amundi assets under management fall during year of volatile markets

LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - French fund manager Amundi SA (AMUN.PA) said on Friday that assets under management fell at the end of the March quarter from a year ago, hit by volatile markets.

Geopolitical risks, inflation, interest rate hikes and volatile financial markets caused stress for investors during 2022, but fund managers were starting to see signs of revival just before the recent banking turmoil in the U.S. and Europe.

Total assets under management (AUM) at Amundi fell at the end of the March quarter to 1.93 trillion euros, down 4.3% from a year ago, but up 1.6% from the end of 2022.

Amundi, the largest asset manager in Europe and majority-owned by French bank Credit Agricole, said net income fell 7.5% from Q1 2022. It cited volatile equity and bond market performance.

Performance fees also dropped about 60% from the first quarter of 2022 to 28 million euros.

Amundi reported a 7.3 billion euro net inflow for the 12 months through the end of March 2023. However it cited "market and forex effects" for a 79.3 billion euro hit to assets under management.

Actively managed stock, bond and multi-asset funds saw assets under management drop by a little more than 20%.

The U.S. banking turmoil which saw the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank drove global investor confidence to one of its lowest levels in the last 20 years, a survey in March showed.