After an exceptional month of January, driven by the announcement of a new increase in remuneration, net inflows recorded on Livrets A and Livrets de Développement durable et solidaire (LDDS) remained very high in February: households again placed 8.17 billion euros on these supports, reports this Tuesday the Caisse des dépôts.
A net additional €6.27bn was deposited in Livret A savings accounts, their second best monthly performance since 2009, after that of last January, with €9.27bn in net inflows.
That of the LDDS remained almost stable compared to January, at €1.9bn, its highest level since the end of 2012 when it took advantage of the doubling of its ceiling.
An exceptional collection since the beginning of the year
In two months, cumulative savings on Livrets A and LDDS savings accounts have already reached 19.39 billion euros, i.e. more than what the French have invested in the whole of 2021 (€19.11 billion ), and nearly two-thirds of net inflows recorded in 2022 (€33.49 billion).
The total amount invested in regulated savings thus reached 529.1 billion euros at the end of February. €391 billion for the Livret A, and €138.1 billion for the LDDS.
The first quarter is traditionally buoyant for regulated savings. Households allocate part of the premiums received at the end of December to it, while these are months of low spending and without tax appointments.
But the exceptional success of these investments since the beginning of the year is unheard of. For Philippe Crevel, director of the Cercle de l’Epargne, this is mainly due to the increase in the rate of these savings accounts to 3% since February 1, as well as “the magnitude and speed of the increases in one year », in a context of high inflation which is very buoyant for precautionary savings.
Security, liquidity, zero taxation and boosted profitability, the recipe for success
” The passbook A rate has been multiplied by six in twelve months. This yield places the most widespread savings product in France among those that are the best remunerated. Only the Livret d’Epargne Populaire with a rate of 6.1% ranks above but is not accessible to all saversexplains the specialist. The Livret A draws its strength from the triptych, security, liquidity and zero withdrawal. When these three factors are added an attractive relative profitability, it is not surprising that the fundraising takes off. »
High inflation and the rapid rise in returns from regulated savings have changed the behavior of French savers. If households had left more and more money in their current accounts in recent years, since September 2022, ” for the first time in more than seven years, a decrease is observed ». Outstanding sight deposits, which had exceeded 540 billion euros in 2022, fell to 514 billion euros at the end of January 2023.