Eurobusiness Media (EBM): AXA Investment managers is an active, long-term, global multi-asset investor and it’s just published its 2017 annual results. I’m joined by AXA IM’s CEO, Andrea Rossi, to discuss those. Lovely to have you with us Andrea. I’d like to start with your highlights of AXA IM’s performance in 2017.
Andrea Rossi: Well Annabelle, it's been another strong year for AXA IM in which we delivered strong investment performance and service for our clients which are reflected in the positive NNM of nearly 10 billion Euros from our 3rd party clients.
Our assets under management increased by 4% compared to 2016, reaching €746 bn and our underlying earnings grew by 14%.
AUM inflows in 2017 were driven by the strong performance of Alternatives, specialist Fixed Income and Multi-Asset solutions, that were in high demand from institutional clients last year.
2017 was also a particularly strong year for us in terms of successes for our institutional business, leveraging our close relationship and the work we do for the AXA Group.
In addition, our Thematic Equity strategies were popular globally with wholesale clients. A good example is our Robotech strategy.
In 2017 AXA IM continued to deliver robust investment performance with 71% of the firm’s cross-border funds in the first and second quartiles in 2017.
So overall, fundamentals are in good shape and we are well in line to deliver on our global strategy.
EBM: And what about product innovation?
Andrea Rossi: We continued to innovate and enrich our client offering and I’d like to give you few examples: Framlington Equities launched two cross border thematic strategies driven by significant investor appetite – Robotech and the Digital Economy
In Alternatives, the newly launched Chorus investment team, saw continued investor interest throughout the year following the launch of their first investment strategy Multi-Premia. Our Real Assets and Structured Finance teams also remained at the forefront of innovation.
EBM: You’ve talked there about investment in products innovation where else are you investing ?
Andrea Rossi: Well we are also investing in digital opportunities to reinforce our service offering for clients going forward.
For instance, we partnered with BNP Paribas Securities Services to help develop blockchain technology for fund distribution. This partnership has already delivered a prototype for digital client on-boarding, and will focus on the fund trade aspect as the second module this year.
We are also working with several Fintechs to find ways to enhance our investment process as well as better understand the behaviour of clients and anticipate their needs.
EBM: Being a responsible company, being a responsible investor is a key priority for AXA IM, can you talk to me about any significant progress you’ve made in this area ?
Andrea Rossi: This is an important topic. As an active manager we are taking our responsibilities to advocate change at company level in the interest of our clients very seriously. For example we further strengthened our Corporate Governance and Voting Policy, which is complementary to our engagement work. We see our role as guiding and supporting our clients in their RI decisions.
Over the year we have worked closely with the AXA Group on their coal divestment and green investments targets. We will continue to help AXA reach a significant proportion of their green investments target by 2020.
We also strengthened our stance on coal with an in house policy that restricts investments in coal as well as with a climate policy which applies to all our open-ended RI funds.
This is available to our institutional third party clients on an opt in basis that takes an even tougher stance on both coal and tar sands related investments.
EBM: We’ve talked there about being a responsible investor. What about being a responsible employer ?
Andrea Rossi: Well you’re right. Being a responsible investor also means being a responsible employer. We are continuously looking to foster a diverse and inclusive workforce, for example through our strong commitment to delivering on our gender diversity objectives.
For instance, we are taking concrete actions to address gender imbalance at AXA IM which among others include: meeting the target of 40% female senior executives globally by 2020.
We also want to deliver inclusive recruitment training to all hiring managers and we are ensuring gender-balanced hiring panels for senior executive roles.
I firmly believe attracting more women into our workforce and supporting their progress into senior roles is vitally important. Not only does it create a more enriched work culture, it is also essential to the commercial success of our business.
EBM: You’ve painted a picture of a very successful, a very busy year for AXA IM in 2017! What does the future hold for 2018?
Andrea Rossi: We want to play to our strengths as an active manager and accelerate our growth.
Our priority is to continue to serve our clients in their best interests by delivering robust investment performance together with diversified strategies across all asset classes. With this in mind I'd like to thank our clients for their ongoing support and trust.
To finish I would really like to use this opportunity to thank all AXA IM employees for all their efforts and dedication to delivering the best outcomes for clients.
EBM: Andrea Rossi, CEO of AXA IM, thank you very much to you.
Andrea Rossi : Thank you.
