MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit (LON:0RLS) intends to increase the fees it generates from selling investment funds, the Italian bank's CEO said on Tuesday, and is working to "rebalance" a deal with French partner Amundi to achieve its aim.
Under the 2017 deal, when UniCredit sold its in-house asset manager Pioneer to Amundi, the French group's funds must account for a predefined portion of the Italian bank's total assets under management (AUM).
This means that UniCredit has limited room to sell other funds, including its own products as well as third-party funds it repackages internally, on which it would reap higher fees.
"We have Amundi that has the lion's market share of everything. It's rebalancing a little bit, and will rebalance going forward," UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel told analysts when presenting the bank's third quarter results.
Sources told Reuters in May that UniCredit had been trimming the proportion of Amundi funds in its total AUM, paying penalties for failing to meet contractual minimums.
Orcel said UniCredit will maintain its current "open architecture" approach to asset management, which involves partnering with all major players, including Amundi, to offer "best in class" products.
An in-house asset manager allows banks to earn distribution fees in full, but technology advances and rising competition make it hard for UniCredit to relive its Pioneer days.
Since taking over at UniCredit in 2021, the former investment banker, has been working to boost revenue from asset management in an effort to increase net fee income as a proportion of UniCredit's overall revenue.
As he sought to review the 10-year Amundi distribution deal, Orcel signed an agreement with Azimut in late 2022 giving the Italian asset manager access to UniCredit's clients.
UniCredit has also begun a partnership with the world's biggest fund manager BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) to use its Aladdin technology platform.
"In 2021, because of the approach we had before ... we had significantly less than 70% of the value chain of asset management being recognised to us through distribution fees," Orcel said.
"We are now at 70% ... and our objective is to bring the amount we capture of the value chain ... in excess of 80% in three or four years' time," he added.