LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - DAMP SQUIB. Natixis boss Nicolas Namias will be left ruing what might have been. On Tuesday the $15 billion French bank announced the exit of Jean Raby, who ran its asset management division over the past four years. Since the end of 2017, the French-Canadian ex-Goldmanite helped grow assets under management by a third to an impressive 1.1 trillion euros. Less fondly, Raby presided over a risk meltdown at former star fund H2O, which led to Namias disposing of Natixis’ majority stake in the London-based unit. But its reduced M&A ambitions may stick in the craw. When Raby joined, the business was seen as a buyer in Europe’s fractured asset management industry. Power-coupling with rivals Amundi or Germany’s DWS, for example, would have created a mini European BlackRock, with AUM rising to some 2.8 trillion euros or 1.9 trillion euros, respectively. Instead, Natixis’ majority owner BPCE is buying the unit, along with the rest of the bank, arguably on the cheap. Raby’s departure is a fitting anticlimax. (By Christopher Thompson)