In life insurance, units of account, these investments not guaranteed in capital but with potentially higher returns, are popular with savers. And among these UCs, we find thematic funds which are very successful despite their disparate performances.
“With nearly 800 funds on 16 themes, the range of funds and ETFs accessible today has been greatly enriched,” explains Pierre Miramont, Head of Fund Analysis and Model Portfolios at Quantalys Harvest Group in a press release published this Wednesday, February 21 .
In 2023 investors have “trusted long-term megatrends by remaining invested in thematic funds despite the strong disparities in performance”, according to the latest Quantalys Harvest Group 2023 Observatory of Thematic management in partnership with CPRAM.
300 billion assets under management
Quantalys now has nearly 800 thematic funds with 300 billion euros under management, or around 7% of equity funds distributed in Europe. The success of these funds depends on two factors: their ease of access within life insurance contracts and the themes themselves (climate change, digitalization, demographic phenomena, urbanization and increasing inequalities). .
“Of the 992 life insurance contracts listed by Quantalys, the average is 36 thematic funds per contract. Rather than investing in a World Equity fund, investors appreciate being exposed to a theme that unfolds over the long term (the impact of artificial intelligence in the future, etc.) and that individuals understand because that it impacts their daily lives (the aging of the population…)”, relates the study.
Strong disparities in performance
In its 2023 review of the performance of these thematic funds, Quantalys notes significant disparities. International stocks indeed display an average performance of +15%… But with big differences depending on the country (+20% for the United States and -20% for China in Euro) or even the sectors (technology at +33% compared to -3% for energy).
Thematic funds focused on Big Data or artificial intelligence show average performances of +74% and +30% respectively, while the return on funds specializing in renewable energies falls by -3.6%.
Managed management of a life insurance contract: operation and comparison