Creation of the Amundi Institute

In an increasing complex and changing world, investors have expressed a critical need to better understand their environment and the evolution of investment practices in order to define their asset allocation and help construct their portfolios. This environment includes economic, financial, geopolitical, societal and environmental dimensions.

To meet this need, Amundi creates the Amundi Institute.

The Amundi Institute's objective is to strengthen the advice, training and day-to-day dialogue on these subjects for all its clients - distributors, institutions and corporates - regardless of the assets that Amundi manages on their behalf. This new division brings together its research, market strategy and asset allocation advisory activities under the Amundi Institute.

The Amundi Institute will also be responsible for conveying Amundi's convictions and its investment and portfolio construction recommendations, thereby furthering its leadership in these areas.

This new business line will continue to serve Amundi’s investment management teams. It will contribute to strengthening their standards of excellence.  With an initial staff of around 60, the Amundi Institute will soon be strengthened to serve these new objectives.

Pascal Blanqué, who has been appointed as Chairman of Amundi Institute, will supervise this new business line.

He will be supported by Monica Defend, who will be Head of Amundi Institute.

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Pascal Blanqué, Chairman of the Amundi Institute, and a Member of Amundi’s General Management Committee and Executive Committee

Pascal Blanqué has been Group Chief Investment Officer and Head of the investment management platforms since 2005. He was also Global Head of Institutional Business and Third Party Distributors from 2010 to 2017.  Pascal joined the Crédit Agricole group in 2000 as Chief Economist. Prior to joining Crédit Agricole, Pascal was Deputy Director of Economic Research at Paribas (1997-2000) following four years in the strategic asset allocation department of Paribas Asset Management in London (1992-1996). He began his career in institutional and private wealth management at Paribas in 1991.

As an economist and historian, Pascal is the author of several contributions. His research interests and his academic work focus on monetary issues, the functioning of financial markets and economic philosophy. He is a member of various think tanks such as the "Société d’Economie politique" and the 300 Club, as well as the MSCI Advisory Council and Bretton Woods Committee.

Pascal was awarded European CIO of the Year 2013, 2018 and 2021 by Funds Europe Magazine and received the Institutional Investor Manager Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. His book 10 weeks into Covid 19 - Psyche, Money, Narratives – an interpretation of the crisis was awarded the Turgot Financial Economy prize in 2022.

Pascal studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. He is a graduate of Institut d’Etudes Politiques and holds a PhD in Finance from Paris-Dauphine University.

Monica Defend, Head of the Amundi Institute

Monica has been Global Head of Research, a member of the Global Investment Committee and the Advisory Board at Amundi since 2019. In her role, she contributes to the definition of Amundi’s investments strategy on financial markets. The team relies on a strong quantitative approach: it analyses the trends and fluctuations of financial markets in order to define short, medium and long term forecasts, highlighting the main investment themes.  A distinctive feature of the team is the tight collaboration with the investment platforms for the generation of integrated investment ideas.

She was previously Deputy Head of Group Research and member of the Global Investment Committee of Amundi since 2017. In her role, she contributes to defining Amundi’s investment strategy on financial markets. Prior to that, she was Global Head of Asset Allocation Research and previously Head of Quantitative Research at Pioneer Investments. Monica started her career in the investment industry in 1997 following a role as University assistant for the Advanced Econometrics department at Bocconi University.

Monica holds a Masters’ degree in Economics (Bocconi University) and Financial Economics from the London Business School and Bocconi University. Furthermore, she was selected for the UniCredit Young Talents Program and the Management and Banking Academy, obtaining afterwards an MBA degree at the London Business School.