Solidarity finance celebrates its forty anniversary: in 1983, the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development-Terre Solidaire launched the first product on the market, the Hunger and Development Fund, in partnership with Crédit Coopératif. Even today, this fund allows savers to share the income from their investment with the association working on an international scale. Although solidarity finance has since become largely structured, it still rests on the foundations laid by this pioneering product: it is about giving meaning to one’s money by seeking to meet a dual objective of profitability, both financial and social. or environmental.
Forty years later, the total outstanding amount of solidarity finance in France reaches 26.3 billion euros at the end of 2022, according to the FAIR association, which manages the Finansol label. A high amount, but which only represents 0.45% of French household savings. “Solidarity finance remains a niche market, but it continues to progress! “, rejoices Patrick Sapy, the general director of FAIR.
Outstandings are divided between solidarity employee savings for 58%, bank investments (books, life insurance, etc.) for 38% and direct investment with solidarity companies (4%). Overall increases by 7.4% in 2022. “This is less than in previous years when annual growth reached between 15% and 20%, but it demonstrates the resilience of solidarity savings in an environment marked last year by the sharp decline in the stock and bond markets”, continues Mr. Sapy.
Popular responsible booklets
However, one category of solidarity investments has been on the rise in recent months: responsible savings accounts, whose yield has soared this year thanks to the rise in key rates by the European Central Bank. These booklets work like any bank booklet but, unlike a Livret A, they include a sharing mechanism: from 25% to 100% of the interest is donated to an association in the form of a donation. “Passbooks are a natural gateway to solidarity savings, because they are simple to understand, risk-free, and do not require financial sacrifice, since the donation concerns interest and not capital”analyzes Patrick Sapy.
Their yield today is between 1.20% and 3.5% gross for the best. “We increased the rate of the Agir booklet from 0.60% to 1.20% on 1er February 2023. This should allow us to double our donations this year, which is good news for associations”, underlines Imad Tabet, director of the individual market at Crédit Coopératif. The main booklet on the market with an outstanding amount of 935 million euros, the Agir booklet alone paid 1.4 million euros to associations in 2022.
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