Solidarity savings are gaining ground

At the end of 2021, 24.5 billion euros were invested in a “solidarity” way. An amount up by… 27% in one year. If the progression is undeniable – this outstanding amount has even tripled since the end of 2015 – the game is far from won for these savings products dedicated to financially supporting organizations of the social and solidarity economy (ESS). “There are only 2 million solidarity savers out of 30 million households”recalls Frédéric Tiberghien, president of FAIR (Financing, supporting, impacting, bringing together, the association that manages Finansol, the reference label in the sector).

Investments supporting solidarity activities remain generally unknown to savers: less than a third consider themselves well informed about these products and the way the money is used and invested, according to an OpinionWay survey carried out for France Active in September. “Much remains to be done in terms of education, not only with the general public, but also with banks, which must train their advisers”confirms Jon Sallé, head of the Social Impact Finance Observatory at FAIR.

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For the time being, the solidarity investor is most often also an employee: nearly 6 euros out of 10 invested in solidarity savings are invested through companies. The explanation? Since 2010, company savings plans (PEE) must offer a solidarity fund devoting 5% to 10% of its assets to financing the SSE. The remaining 90% to 95% are managed freely, in shares and/or bonds.

These funds, dubbed “90-10”, are recording double-digit annual growth in assets. “They benefit from the development of employee savings, which is gradually spreading to smaller companies”analyzes Mr. Sallé.

Volatile stock markets

90-10 funds are also available to all savers directly from banks and through life insurance contracts. While their distribution through these channels has not yet met with the same success as that of solidarity employee savings, putting these products on display gives them visibility which ends up being reflected in collection figures.

90-10 funds manage their solidarity pocket so that it always represents between 5% and 10% of their overall assets. A complex mission this year due to the high volatility of the stock markets. The CAC 40 index fell by 12% since 1er January, while the US S&P index 500 has sunk 22%.

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