It does not take long to find out what has been preoccupying Yves Perrier, the chief executive of Amundi, when he greets me after delivering his opening speech at the asset manager’s annual investment seminar in Paris.

“You could never conduct trade union negotiations in a room like this,” says the man who masterminded the French asset manager’s €3.5bn acquisition of rival Pioneer Investments, which was rubber stamped at the start of the month and will trigger 500 job cuts.