Financial investments reach an historic high in the first half of 2019

Wednesday, 4 september 2019

The June economic outlook report for household savings provides an overview of the first half of 2019

New savings inflows (life insurance included) stood at €43.7 billion in the first half of 2019 (excluding financial securities), reaching a first-six-month level unparalleled for more than fifteen years. These new inflows were driven by extremely high additions to sight deposits (+€25.4 billion) along with passbook savings accounts (+€17 billion) and life insurance. 

Deposits on home savings plans stagnated (+€0.6 billion) while the outflow of fixed-term investments had a marginal impact on total inflows (-€1.4 billion). Aggregate new investment in life insurance since January amounted to €15.4 billion (+28% compared with 2018), the best performance since 2011. While unit-linked life insurance inflows (+€8.8 billion) were lower than in H1 2018 (-34%), new euro-denominated investments were much higher as they were positive and even unparalleled since 2010 (+€6.6 billion). The fine performance achieved by life insurance is consequently based on a more evenly balanced fund inflow structure. 

Fiscal measures in support of purchasing power, the decline in inflation and the continued buoyant distribution of credit (all pursued in a savings-friendly environment) can explain this record-breaking performance achieved by household investments.