Between July and August, the average return on savings accounts distributed by French banks was multiplied by 3. Not yet something to get excited about, but it is the signal of a trend reversal.
A yield that triples in 1 month! Obviously, the prospect is enticing… It is a little less so when you know where you are starting from. For months, the average return on bank books, excluding regulated savings, had been stuck at a historically low level: 0.04%, according to our interest rate indicator, which lists the products of all retail banks on the French market. In other words, not much… It is, in addition, a gross rate. By amputating the single flat-rate levy (PFU) at 30%, this average yield fell, in fact, 0.028%, net of taxes and social contributions.
From 0.04% to 0.12% in 1 month!
Good news: still according to our indicator, this average rate jumped between July and August, going 0.12%, i.e. 0.084% net of PFU. It’s not the Prou yet, but it’s a clear signal. This index is thus back to its July 2019 level, i.e. 3 years of decline canceled in 1 month. Above all, you have to go back ten years to find traces of such an increase. This is therefore what can be called a trend reversal.
And that’s not all: this rise should be sustainable. It is linked, in fact, to the news opened by the change in the monetary policy of the European Central Bank, which in July increased its main key rates by half a point, in an attempt to contain inflation. It also follows the quadrupling, since the start of the year, of the Livret A rate, which rose from 0.5% to 2% on August 1, again under the effect of inflation. Held by around 8 out of 10 French people, the savings account, which in July recorded its best collection since 2009, also acts as the unofficial key rate for savings in France.
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Of course, there will still be a long way to go before we find bank books capable of competing with regulated savings, or even life insurance euro funds. In the meantime, if you have cash to invest, it is always possible to watch for promotional ratesup to 3% currently, offered by a handful of banks in search of new customers.
The best savings accounts of the moment
Youth booklets 2% and more
The rise in the Livret A rate led in its wake to the rebound of another savings product, the Livret Jeune. A savings account of a particular kind, since the banks can choose the rate they apply to it, with one constraint: it cannot be lower than that of the Livret A. Almost a month after the increase in the rate of the latter , all the banks have thus reduced their Livret Jeune to 2%, or even 2.50%, Macif, CIC or most Crdits Mutuels.
Young booklet: these banks have just doubled its rate to 2%, Macif is doing even better