Solidarity finance is setting new records in France

FRANCE. "France is at the forefront of solidarity finance ." This observation by Frédéric Tiberghien, president of Finansol, is based on the findings of the 19th La Croix/Finansol solidarity finance barometer published on Monday 7 June 2021. The daily newspaper and the collective aiming to promote solidarity in finance and savings show that solidarity finance reached a new record in 2020 with an increase of €5 billion (+33%) in France to reach €20.33 billion in total assets (see table below). "This is the highest increase in funds collected (837,000 new subscriptions) ever recorded in absolute terms (+80% compared to the previous record)", explains Jon Sallé, head of Finansol's Solidarity Finance Observatory.

Total savings reached €139 billion in 2020 compared to €114 billion in 2019. And solidarity finance has also benefited from this rebound fuelled by the mistrust of the French in this period of uncertainty. "2020 is an exceptional year for solidarity finance. It has benefited from the positive measures of the PACTE law -The action plan for business growth and transformation-, such as the reform of employee savings or the emergence of solidarity life insurance. Furthermore, solidarity finance has also evolved with the health crisis, which has led the French to turn to liquidity and direct subscriptions to the capital of solidarity companies ... More than ever, to build the world of tomorrow, we need committed and patient savers", emphasises Frédéric Tiberghien.

Thanks to solidarity products that are more available, more efficient and democratised, particularly through institutional investments that choose solidarity, solidarity employee savings are becoming the driving force behind employee savings, notes Finansol. However, it still only represents 0.36% (0.29% in 2019) of French people's financial assets. "We hope to reach 1%," the president of Finansol told econostrum.info, but he did not want to risk giving a deadline. "There are many parameters that we do not control. The idea is to accelerate this growth, so it is a long-term objective," he adds. In any case, the trend is there. The La Croix-Finansol Barometer does not record any disengagement in the first half of 2021 and even notes a capacity to "return to the pot in the second half".

Based on the analysis of 166 Finansol-labelled savings products (and excluding participatory financing platforms to focus on investment products), the barometer reveals that in 2020, solidarity finance raised €566 million in solidarity financing (+24%). They supported 38,480 jobs through the financing of 1,247 companies or associations and 4,660 professional microcredits. Similarly, this sector supported more than fifty economic development actors in developing countries (microfinance, agricultural cooperatives, social enterprises), contributed to the supply of 8,372 additional households with renewable electricity. They also enabled farmers engaged in local agriculture to create 1,006 additional hectares of organic farming (i.e. the surface area of some 1,430 rugby fields).