At UniCredit for now the focus remains on Onemarkets Fund

Asset management and wealth is not indifferent to UniCredit either, which, according to the stock exchange, contends with Intesa for the title of third or fourth European bank by capitalisation.

A dimension, that of the bank of Piazza Cordusio, which could increase if, as it seems, at the centre of Orcel's strategy remains the idea of acquiring (apart from the Commerzbank game) credit institutions focused on European territories (from Greece to Romania) where the number of productive activities is clearly growing and the middle class is consolidating with a good savings rate. As far as asset management is concerned, having skipped the BPM operation with Anima in particular, it is likely that the group, rather than buying realities or pieces of asset managers (from Dws to Ubs) perhaps in order to acquire particular expertise around the world, will continue on the trajectory traced a few years ago. Overall, assets in this area amounted to 146 billion as at 30 June.

At Unicredit, the most important news came in 2023 when the first funds of the Onemarkets Fund platform, which is owned by Structured Invest, a Luxembourg-based management company and wholly owned subsidiary of UniCredit International Bank, began to be placed. The platform marked UniCredit's return to fund management after the sale of Pioneer to Amundi under Jean Pierre Mustier. In approximately two and a half years to 30 June, Onemarkets has raised assets of EUR 22 billion (including EUR 7.5 billion since the start of the year) by leveraging an open-architecture approach, the result of the UniCredit Unlocked strategy, i.e. pursuing sustainable revenue growth with low capital absorption and a client-centric approach. The onemarkets branded product range now includes more than 40 investment funds, both with in-house delegated management within the UniCredit Group and with external delegated management to third parties (e.g. BlackRock, Pimco, Amundi, Fidelity, Rockefeller Capital Management).

But agreements with prestigious partners are constantly evolving, and there is no doubt that, given its size, UniCredit is able to secure the best price terms with partner houses and thus bring home profits, thanks to economies of scale. Also under the Onemarkets Fund brand are the funds, this time under Irish law, of Nova Investment Management, the Sgr owned by Azimut Holding, set up in 2022, launched at the end of 2023 and destined to package exclusive products for UniCredit, which, thanks to a pre-emption right set, could take it over by 2028. Another chapter, no less important, concerns the agreement with Amundi, which will expire in 2027. The French group's funds have been the largest part of the assets invested in asset management in recent years. There are those who say that the pacts set 10 years ago by Mustier could be blown up and they are already working on the aftermath, but it is not certain that the partnership will not go ahead, given the important size and the numerous solutions.