Groupama Asset Management has appointed Arnaud Ganet and Alberico Potenza as international commercial director in Italy and managing director of Groupama AM SGR, respectively, alongside which it is creating a new international commercial direction, said the firm.

Ganet was previously head of development in Italy for Groupama and a managing director of Groupama AM SGR. He has also worked at CSE Insurance Group.

Potenza was previously head of institutional clients at Groupama AM SGR, before which he worked for Allianz Global Investor AM as an analyst and manager. He also worked for Merrill Lynch Private Banking in New York for 10 years.

Groupama is a French asset management company with €88.8 billion (around $122.7 billion) of assets under management as at 31 December 2009. Groupama Asset Management is a subsidiary of France's mutual insurance company Groupama.