2nd Amundi-Acba Economic Forum held in Yerevan

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.