© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo of Amundi is seen outside the company headquarters in Paris, France, February 3, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo
By Marc Jones
LONDON (Reuters) – Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, has started dipping its toe back into the Turkish lira it says having been impressed by the country’s turnaround efforts since its mid-year elections. The Paris-based firm, which has about $2 trillion worth of assets under management, is yet to go all in given the lira’s ongoing grind lower but says has taken its first step towards it by reversing long-held bets against the currency. “We have started to cover our underweight in Turkish lira a few weeks ago,” Sergei Strigo, Amundi’s co-Head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income, told Reuters, referring to the process of taking a more positive view on the currency.
Strigo said last week’s 500 basis-point interest rate hike to 40% in Turkey was “all very positive” and a sign of its seriousness in tackling its inflation problem. “We are not yet ready to increase the allocation (in the lira) but it is definitely on our radar screen.”
