GERMANY / ITALY – Commerzbank has sold its Italian asset management subsidiary, Commerzbank Asset Management Italia (CAMI) to Australian financial services group, AMP, for €20m. The move is part of the banking and financial group’s strategy to streamline its asset management activities as a result of recent disappointing earnings.

The sale is the first in a series of sell-offs announced in April which will include Commerzbank’s respective US and UK asset management operations, Jupiter and Montgomery. The company also intends to withdraw from the Asian market.

The divestments are designed to allow Commerzbank to focus on selected European markets, notably its home market Germany, in order to turn around recent poor performance by its asset management operations.

In April, the company announced that it had bundled all the group’s asset management activities in a newly-formed Frankfurt-based investment company, cominvest. The new operation includes the research unit of Commerz Asset Managers and ADIG-Investment, the group’s retail fund subsidiary.

CAMI, established by Commerzbank just two years ago, currently has some €650m under management, though predominantly for private clients. It has a staff of 120 and employs a network of 200 or so independent financial advisors.

Commerzbank Asset Management has €125bn under management.

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