In 2020, the Livret A and the LDDS acclaimed by French people in search of safety

Very widespread in France, the Livret A attracted twice as many savings in 2020 as in 2019, garnering a net amount of 26,4 billion euros, the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) announced on Wednesday.

In December alone, around 840 million euros net were withdrawn from the Livret A, but these sums were offset by very high levels of collection in previous months, especially at the start of the year during the weeks of confinement linked to the outbreak. of the health crisis.

"The year 2020 was characterized by a major crisis, with a forced drop in consumption due to the various phases of confinement and a fear about the future which gave the winners in the first place the current accounts (current accounts, Editor's note), then in second position the Livret A and the LDDS ", analysis for AFP Philippe Crevel, director of the Cercle de l'épargne, a consultancy firm on savings and its regulations.

The success of Livret A, which nevertheless guarantees a historically low interest rate of 0,5% per year, contrasted in particular with the large withdrawals observed on life insurance contracts.

For its part, the Livret de développement durable et solidaire (LDDS) signed a net fundraising of just over one billion euros in December, bringing the total amount harvested over the year to 8,8 billion. 2020 by this placement, twice as good there as in 2019, when 3,9 billion euros had been collected.

Discounts in life insurance

Managed jointly by the CDC and the banking networks, the Livret A is mainly used to finance social housing, while the LDDS is dedicated to the social and solidarity economy as well as to energy savings in housing.

Between them, the Livret A and the LDDS garnered 35,2 billion euros net in 2020, against 16,6 billion in 2019. They thus sign their second best annual collection after the 2012 record of 49 billion.

"It represents 50 euros per month and per booklet. It is a record since 2012, it is enormous", commented the director general of the CDC, Eric Lombard, Wednesday on the antenna of RTL.

"It is linked to the fact that the French have not been able to consume, because of the confinements, because of the closed stores. So it is a saving which is really forced, which is constrained", he added. .

The persistent attractiveness of the Livret A in particular is explained, according to him, by the fact that "it is a product which is very safe, the remuneration is positive (...) and it works like a bank account", in a "very flexible" way.

In total, the outstanding savings stored on the two passbooks amounted to 448,3 billion euros at the end of December 2020.

These figures stand in stark contrast to those of life insurance, by far the leading investment in France with nearly 1.800 billion euros in outstanding but which will have been very strongly shaken by the health and economic crisis.

In March, April and May, two billion euros were withdrawn each time from life insurance. In the following months, withdrawals continued, but less massively.

Over the first 11 months of the year, life insurance companies saw the departure of 7,3 billion euros, while they had harvested more than 23 billion euros over the same period in 2019.

"The security and liquidity offered by the Livret A and the LDDS have been acclaimed by savers", summarizes Mr. Crevel.