The flow of household indebtedness to financial institutions is strengthening…
(Boursier.com) — In the 1st quarter of 2022, the flow of household financial investments stood at 39.9 billion, up by 8.9 billion euros compared to the 4th quarter of 2021 indicates the Banque de France
Savings invested in interest rate products increased in Q1 (24.4 billion euros after 17.1 billion euros in the 4th quarter of 2021), due to the rebound in flows in cash and sight deposits, and inflows which became positive again on regulated savings accounts (E8.3bn after -E0.2bn in Q4 2021) – in connection with the first revaluation of regulated savings accounts rates on February 1. Investments in equity products continued to grow, driven by investments in unlisted shares and other equity investments and by unit-linked life insurance subscriptions.
The first data (still partial) collected by the Banque de France for the 2nd quarter of 2022 show a slight erosion of interest-bearing bank deposits at 10.7 billion euros after 12.8 billion euros in the 1st quarter of 2022, mainly on regulated savings at 3, 1 billion euros in Q2 2022 (8.3 billion euros in Q1). The net flow is again negative for life insurance contracts in euros (-3.6 billion euros in Q2 2022) while the flow of unit-linked life insurance investments is slightly up at 11.7 MdsE in the 2nd quarter after 10.6 MdsE in the 1st quarter.
In the 1st quarter of 2022, gross financial wealth posted a decline of 155 billion euros (i.e. -2.6% compared to Q4), due to the loss in value of the assets held, under the effect of the decline in stock market prices. In view of the fall in these stock market prices over this period (-9.3% for the CAC40 index, -9.6% for the TEC10 index in particular), the value of French financial assets “is naturally much less volatile, in because of the importance of financial investments in the form of bank deposits or investments with guaranteed performance”, explains the Banque de France.
Household savings fell slightly in the 1st quarter of 2022 (67.2 billion euros after 68.5 billion euros in Q4), while remaining at a higher level than before the pandemic. In contrast, their flow of indebtedness with financial institutions is strengthening (26.8 billion euros after 18.9 billion euros in Q4).