Chaired by Hubert Védrine, the former foreign affairs minister of France (1997-2002), the board will give the company their insights on global economic, political and strategic developments, and their relevance on financial markets. Védrine is a consultant at HVC, a consulting firm specialising in foreign, economic and geopolitical affairs, as well as an independent director of LVMH since 2004.

The board will also include Dame Helen Alexander, former president of the Confederation of British Industry (2009-2011) and current chairman of UBM; Sir Simon Fraser, former permanent secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and head of the UK diplomatic service (2010-2015); Enrico Letta, former prime minister of Italy (2013-2014); Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive of Publicis Groupe; Patrick Ponsolle, former vice-chairman of Morgan Stanley International (2001-2009) and vice chairman Europe of Rothschild (2009-2014); Jurgen Stark, former member of the executive board and the governing council of the European Central Bank (2009-2011); Isabel Tocino Biscarolasaga, former minister of the environment in Spain (1996-2000); and Tatsuo Yamasaki, former vice minister of finance, Japan, for international affairs (2014-2015).

Amundi, which was jointly created in 2010 by Crédit Agricole and Société Générale, had assets of close to €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) as of the end of 2015. Last month, it acquired a majority stake in Kleinwort Benson Investors, the BHF Kleinwort Benson subsidiary that was recently bought by Oddo & Cie.