The European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama) has appointed Naïm Abou-Jaoudé, chief executive of Candriam, to a two-year term as president.
Following a vote on Friday, the Efama General Meeting also named Peter Branner of APG Asset Management and Joseph Pinto of Natixis Investment Managers as vice-presidents.
Abou-Jaoudé will succeed Nicolas Calcoen, deputy general manager of Amundi.
Pressing work
Abou-Jaoudé said he was honoured to represent Europe’s investment management industry as Efama president.
He added: “While our industry remains vital to investors in achieving their financial goals, we also now have a critical part to play in encouraging a more sustainable and inclusive future. As we emerge from the covid-19 pandemic, the importance of this organisation’s work on behalf of our industry could not be more pressing.”
It has been a busy half year for Candriam. In March, the firm posted that it had record assets under management, and was working to diversify more into alternatives and ESG investment. At the time, Reuters reported that the company’s AUM had risen 8% in 2020 to €140bn.
Bolstering expertise
The appointment of Abou-Jaoudé would appear to be a good fit for Efama, given that the association has been banging the ESG drum repeatedly in recent months. In March, it published its ESG Investing in the UCITS Market – A Powerful and Inexorable Trend, looking at the major shifts in the ESG Ucits market, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and the behaviours of ESG and non-ESG funds.
At the time, Tanguy van de Werve, director general of Efama said: “Our new Market Insights shows that the ESG market has quite possibly reached a turning point in 2020. New regulatory measures, such as the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation that came into force yesterday, intend to enhance comparability and trust for investors in ESG funds, as well as hold market participants accountable and avoid greenwashing.”
Alongside Abou-Jaoudé, the appointments of Branner and Pinto as vice-presidents also brings more industry expertise to the association. Branner, chief investment officer of APG Asset Management, has worked in asset management for over thirty years. Pinto, who is global chief operating officer at Natixis Investment Managers, spent thirteen years with Axa Investment Managers, serving as the company’s chief operating officer, following a stint as deputy chief executive at Banque Privée Fideuram Wargny.
