During the confinement, the French massively filled their stockings with wool. The savings surplus accumulated over two months reached nearly 55 billion, according to a note from the Banque de France. Totally unusual amounts, which represent " two to three times more than what we usually observe," says François Mouriaux, director of statistics at the Banque de France.
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In detail, the money deposited on bank passbooks, mainly passbook A jumped more than 11.5 billion euros in April. Households also left their money to sleep on their current account. Demand deposits increased by almost 27.7 billion euros over two months. It is on average almost 5 times more than usual. "This reflects the exceptional economic impact of the shutdown," says François Mouriaux.
Life insurance shunned
Life insurance, yet one of the favorite investments of the French, has not had this same success. Gross inflows ended in red for the second consecutive month (-2.1 billion euros), according to the French Insurance Federation. "In April, as had already been the case in March, containment restricted commercial activity and the number of operations," said the FFA. The French did not draw more from their reserves, but they saved less in life insurance.
While savers are looking for security at all costs, restrictions on the euro funds set up by insurers in recent months may have weighed. “In this context of crisis, the French want to protect their money. If they cannot, they arbitrate with other investments ”, judges Cyrille Chartier Kastler, founder of Good Value for money.
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