ArmInfo. The second Amundi-Acba Economic Forum 2024 was held in Yerevan on January 24, which brought together thought leaders, industry experts, and innovators to explore and discuss critical topics shaping the economic landscape. Jean Mazedjian, CEO of Amundi-Acba Asset Management, mentioned during his greeting that, taking into account the results of last year's forum, it was decided to make the event traditional and hold it every year.
Reminding that last year the innovative projects implemented by the company over the past 10 years were presented, Jean Mazedjian noted that in 2024 Amundi-Acba will continue a similar policy, introducing new products to the financial market.
In this regard, he spoke about one of the upcoming projects, which will be launched in September of this year. "We will form an innovative research platform, Amundi Academy, which will allow Armenian students specializing in the financial and economic sector to gain free access to numerous publications, articles by leading industry experts, translated into Armenian," Mazedjian said. As the Amundi-Acba CEO noted, the platform will make it easier for the younger generation to explore and stay informed about the best and most up-to-date material in the field of finance.
He also noted that the company plans to implement future goals in Armenia. In this regard, the head of the company emphasized that we are talking not only about the financial sector, but also about processes related to the consequences of climate change. "Given that we are one of the international leaders, we simply have to do so. And in order to be able to confront this challenge, we have a very good tool - artificial intelligence," he added
Summarizing, the Amundi-Acba CEO noted that as one of the leading companies, Amundi-Acba Asset Management must not only remain committed to its responsibilities, but also be able to bring to Armenia the best practices that relate to financial analytics, control and management; introduce know-how principles into the country and modernize the financial sector on at the proper level.
Within the framework of the Forum, presentations were made on the following topics: Amundi Investment View for 2024: From Macro to Markets; Macroeconomic Developments in Armenia; AI and ESG Talk; Panel Discussion: Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Finance: Challenges and Opportunities. The Forum was concluded by an exclusive interview honored by the Governor of the Central bank of Armenia Martin Galstyan, on the topic "Geopolitics in South Caucasus and Economic Impact in Armenia."
In October 2023, Amundi-Acba Asset Management CJSC made a major investment from the assets of the Balanced and Conservative Pension Funds under its management in the equities of Telecom Armenia OJSC by participating in the initial public offering.
The company's investment is 20% of the IPO being distributed, which is equivalent to 1,648 billion AMD. This is a precedent in nearly ten years of activity carried out by Armenian pension funds, when funds are directly invested in the real sector of the economy by acquiring shares of an Armenian company.
"The investment made by Amundi-Acba not only increases the diversification of pension funds' investments, but also gives the opportunity to beneficiaries of Balanced and Conservative funds to become indirect shareholders of Telecom Armenia OJSC thus benefiting from its growth prospects. With this step, Telecom Armenia OJSC contributes to the development of the capital market in Armenia and can be a good example for other companies", said Jean Mazedjian, CEO at Amundi-Acba.
Mmost recently, the company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) entered into the first cross-currency repo transaction, which will allow pension funds to be invested more efficiently, help develop the local capital market and, ultimately, help finance the local economy. Amundi-Acba Asset Management CJSC, registered with the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia on November 19, 2013, operates within the framework of the mandatory funded pension system introduced in Armenia from January 1, 2014. The company manages three mandatory pension funds having more than 417 billion assets under its management as of December 30th, 2023.
The company's shareholders are the French Amundi, Europe's leading Asset Manager with nearly 2 trillion Euros in assets under management as of September 30th, 2023 and Acba Bank, being one of the largest financial institutions in Armenia, represented throughout the country with 65 branches.
