Amundi, the asset manager that merged with Pioneer Investments, is offering selected Irish staff packages to quit, extending a redundancy programme beyond its home market of France, according to sources.
Discussions on exit packages from Europe’s largest asset manager have begun with some workers at the former Pioneer operation in Dublin, the sources said. Initially, when Amundi took control this year, few if any staff in Ireland were offered packages to leave, they added.
Pioneer had about 450 staff in Dublin at the end of last year.
An Amundi spokesman declined to comment on any potential job cuts in Ireland or in other countries, while confirming an earlier media report that the firm is seeking 134 voluntary redundancies in France as part of its global cost-cutting plans.
Cost cuts
Last month, Amundi confirmed its target for €150 million of annual cost cuts by 2020 as it integrates Pioneer. Amundi chief executive Yves Perrier repeated that he expects to cut staff by about 10 per cent at the combined company, the equivalent of about 500 positions.
Perrier acquired Pioneer to expand Amundi’s footprint in markets including Italy, Germany, Austria and the US.
Under the chief executive, who presided over Amundi’s creation almost eight years ago, the firm has grown from a mostly French-focused money manager to a European leader overseeing about €1.4 trillion. Credit Agricole, France’s second-largest bank, is Amundi’s majority investor.
– Bloomberg
