BNP Paribas’s potential €5.1bn acquisition of Axa Investment Managers is set to create Europe’s second largest fund management group. Crucially, it could provide Axa’s fund management arm the scale it has historically lacked to compete with much larger European rivals.

BNP Paribas said on 1 August that it has entered exclusive talks with Axa to acquire its €850bn fund management arm, a deal that would also see it enter a long-term partnership to manage a large chunk of Axa’s assets.