A shift towards units of account which is accelerating, and a remuneration at half mast. The gendarme of the bank and the insurance figure in a study the increasing disaffection of the savers for the funds in euros of the life insurance. And shows that inflation has a strong impact on fund returns in euros, despite a rebound in financial markets after the Covid-19 health crisis. Illustration, with 3 striking figures.
At the beginning of April, the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) published its assessment of the life insurance market in 2021. First observation: the impact of the health crisis on life insurance is almost behind us. If the year 2020 had been difficult for life insurance, the year 2021 is that of a return to normal: At the end of 2021, household savings are higher than those observed before the crisis, notes the ACPR. Thus, sight deposits increased by 14% between March 2020 and December 2021. Life insurance also experienced a significant rebound after the marked drop in the net collection in 2020. This became positive again in 2021 and stands at 18.3 billion euros. The life insurance market is picking up. However, while unit-linked investments are on the rise, euro funds are not on the rise.
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+44% unit-linked investments
56.8 billion euros in payments on units of account (UA). Gross collection is in 44% increase compared to the year 2020! Gross inflows are impressive, and net inflows (taking into account deposits but also withdrawals) are even more impressive: +30.6 billion euros on unit-linked funds. Record.
The incentive for banks, brokers and insurers to favor this type of investment is working. Just like the push-back effect of low returns for the fund in euros. According to the ACPR, the rebound in the financial markets may explain the good performance observed in gross inflows of unit-linked contracts. The CAC40 has, in fact, increased by almost 30% between January and the end of December 2021.
Life insurance: the comparison of online contracts
12 billion euros less invested in funds in euros
The outflow on the supports in euros rose -12.3 billion in 2021, points out the ACPR in its study. A smaller outflow than that of 2020 but which remains very pronounced: over the last ten years, it is the 3rd worst annual net inflow of the fund in euros.
In 2021, life insurance contracts on euro funds represent just over half of new payments on life insurance contracts (56%), compared to 85% in 2011. confirmed.
Life insurance: these funds in euros which yield less than the Livret A
A 2021 rate below 0%, after inflation
The banking and insurance policeman has not yet revealed the average return on funds in euros for the year 2021. Its first estimate confirms the trend announced by the federation France Assureurs: a stable average rate, in 2021 by 2020 report, around 1.3%.
The observation is much more severe when taking inflation into account: Due to the acceleration of inflation in 2021, the real rate of revaluation contracts should be widely negative in 2021, constituting a brake on gross collection of euro funds, points out the ACPR. The real return after inflation, the curve in purple in the graph below, is around -0.4%…
Life insurance: 2021 rates for large euro funds, from best to worst