According to a document from the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority, published on Tuesday March 21, the average return paid by the funds in euros of life insurance contracts reached on average 2% for the year 2022. , up 0.72 points compared to 2021 and 2020 (1.28%).
With an increase of nearly 170 basis points on average in one year of the French government bond at 10 years, almost all the distributors of life insurance contracts and retirement savings plans have raised the yield of their funds in euros for the 2022 financial year.
This general movement was expected after several lean years for these supports, which are mainly made up of bond assets, and that, at the same time, the return of high inflation raised the yield of the Livret A in August 2022 above that of the euro funds.
An average yield higher than forecast
In its summary note, the ACPR notes, however, that insurers have not been able to pass on the rise in rates so quickly. than other products such as regulated passbooks, term accounts or the direct holding of bonds via securities accounts due to the long maturity of their portfolios.
On the whole, the performance of the funds in euros was however higher than the expectations of the specialists, who were counting on an average return of between 1.6% and 1.8%. Some players have made notable efforts to offer significant increases (for some, more than 100 basis points), and above the average of 2%.
Logically, the most spectacular annual increases concerned contracts whose performance was weak or very weak in 2021. The large banking networks, in particular, were able to hold their own and managed to reduce their gap with those of mutual insurance companies which ( MACSF, Matmut, Mif, Maif…).
The best fund in euros on the market, that of the mutual fund Garance, thus reached 2.8% without constraint of holding units of account or other system of bonus.
Towards further progress in 2023
In the endhouseholds will not have recorded tremendous gains with their life insurance last year, between inflation of nearly 6% and the poor performance of unit-linked listed shares, which for their part corrected sharply.
The continued “rollover” of mature bonds within euro funds, the rise in interest rates and persistently high inflation augur a further increase in the yields of these vehicles in 2023.
In the current context, insurers should do their utmost to remain competitive as redemptions of life insurance contracts (withdrawals) have increased in recent months, and competition from regulated savings – whose collection has reached highs in 2022 – should remain very strong again this year. To date, inflation forecasts allow us to anticipate a further increase in the yield of the Livret A, which could reach 4% in August.
