Tonnerre de Londres

12 Mar 2020 By Christopher Thompson Follow @CGAThompson

Shares in the $8 bln French bank tanked after a hedge fund it manages suffered big losses. It’s the latest glitch in CEO Francois Riahi’s plan to shift from humdrum lending to high-octane asset management. He must prove the formula works even when markets are volatile.

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Shares in Natixis have slumped following a report in the Financial Times about the performance of the French bank’s H2O Asset Management division.

The FT article on March 10 cited a letter H2O sent to clients warning that its funds suffered “surprisingly large” losses because of bets on bonds and currencies that suffered in recent days.

The London-based H2O division suffered outflows in June 2019 following concerns over a key fund's liquidity and governance, although it had since staged a recovery.

According to its website, H2O had around $34 billion of assets under management at the end of 2019.

Natixis declined to comment.

Natixis shares were down by 9% at 2.15 euros at 0900 GMT on March 12. They have lost around 30% since March 6.

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