Exclusive | Amundi, Europe’s largest money manager, sees China reopening setting off growth wave in Hong Kong and Asia, CEO says
- ‘This continent will be the one having the most important growth in the next decade,’ Valérie Baudson says in an exclusive interview
- Amundi’s Asia portfolio has increased by 34 per cent since 2020, and is on track to expand by a further 25 per cent to US$542 billion by 2025, she says
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Europe’s largest fund house Amundi upbeat on Asia economic, market outlook after China reopening
China’s reopening will set off a growth wave that Amundi Asset Management, Europe’s largest money manager, expects to ride as it increases its assets under management in the region by 25 per cent in the next two years, according to its top boss.
“The very good news of the beginning of the year is the fact that China is reopening,” said Valérie Baudson, CEO of Paris-headquartered Amundi. “That is very good news for the economy in the region, of course – in Hong Kong, in China – but also the economy worldwide.”
After almost three years, China reopened its border with Hong Kong on January 8, just a few days before Baudson visited the city for the first time in three years to attend the Hong Kong government’s Asia Financial Forum on January 11 and 12.
“We are based in Hong Kong for several decades, and it is a very strong base for us,” Baudson said in an exclusive studio interview with the Post. “We are very committed to Asia as a whole because we strongly believe in the strategy of the company, that this continent will be the one having the most important growth in the next decade.”
China’s reopening will boost the country’s economic growth to 4.5 per cent this year, she said. This will be far greater than the US and Europe, which may have a short recession and high inflation due to the energy crisis.