Some 38 million French people have life insurance, a risk-free investment so far. But that could change, according to the information of our columnist Nicolas Barré.
"The French love life insurance, and in particular so-called euro contracts, for a simple reason: the capital is guaranteed, it's a safe investment, to the point that most of the savings in this country, 1400 billion, the equivalent of more than half of France's GDP, is placed in this type of contract, but the insurers who manage this savings have a problem: as the capital is guaranteed, the money must be placed in very safe products, but the most certain thing is government bonds, but today, French, German, government bonds do not earn anything, since interest rates are Zero or even negative! In short, managing life insurance has become an impossible equation.
Except to slightly change the rules ...
This is what insurers and regulators think about. One of the ways would be to question the principle of guaranteed capital: no panic, only a very small percentage of the total would no longer be guaranteed. But that would ease the pressure on the managers. The idea is also to convince savers to accept a small amount of risk in exchange for better returns. If more of the life insurance money were invested in equities rather than government bonds that yield nothing, savers would have a good chance of being better paid. And the savings of the French would also be better used: it is better to finance companies than the debt of the State. What is certain is that the days when life insurance offered a high return for zero risk are behind us. We'll have to get used to it. "