BNP Paribas Cardif has announced two major leadership appointments, following its acquisition of AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM).

The BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNP Paribas AM) and AXA IM boards of directors have appointed BNP Paribas AM CEO, Sandro Pierri, as AXA IM CEO, and previous AXA IM executive chairman, Marco Morelli, as chairman of both BNP Paribas AM and AXA IM.

Pierri, who has served as BNP Paribas Asset Management CEO since July 2021, boasts over 30 years of experience in the asset management industry.

He joined BNP Paribas Asset Management in 2017 as Global Client Group head, and has made a notable contribution to implementing BNP Paribas AM’s growth plan, positioning it as a key player offering high added-value investment solutions for individual savers, companies, and institutions.

Meanwhile, Morelli held the position of AXA Investment Managers executive chairman from September 2020 to June 2025 and was a member of the AXA Management Committee.

He is also an adjunct professor at the Economics and Finance faculty of LUISS University in Rome and a co-founder and vice-chairman of Fondazione Don Gino Rigoldi, a non-profit Italian organisation.

Both men will report to BNP Paribas deputy chief operating officer, Renaud Dumora, who also serves as Investment and Protection Services (IPS) head and BNP Paribas Cardif chairman.

“We are very pleased to welcome the AXA IM teams into the BNP Paribas Group and build together a new expert platform for asset management activities, Dumora said.

“With a great deal of experience in management and development of asset management activities, Marco Morelli and Sandro Pierri will spearhead the integration process of BNP Paribas’ asset management activities to form, with all teams, a European industrial platform, leader in traditional and alternative asset management and leader in insurance management.

“I have every confidence in their ability to make this industrial project a success,” he added.

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