Life insurance is back on track

In April 2020, at the heart of the first confinement, life insurance had experienced a record outflow of 2.3 billion euros. The 3^e confinement did not have the same effects at all. For the fourth consecutive month, in April, the collection is, according to the French Federation of Insurance, positive 1.6 billion euros. Since the start of the year, net inflows have reached 6.4 billion euros.

The month of April is generally quite successful in life insurance. Two outflows were recorded in ten years, each time, in a very specific context, in 2012 during the sovereign debt crisis and therefore in 2020 during the first wave of covid-19. The average net inflows are around 2 billion euros. The result for 2021 shows a return to normal.

Contributions for the month of April 2021 amounted to € 13.1 billion, including € 2.9 billion for units of account. The proportion of units of account is decreasing despite the good performance of the stock market. On the other hand, over four months, the net inflow of units of account is at its highest level for 14 years. The amount of services is back to cruising speed with a total of 11.5 billion euros). At the end of April 2021, outstanding life insurance contracts reached 1,818 billion euros, up + 4.5% over one year.

Life insurance has regained, despite the third confinement, its pre-health crisis growth rate. There is no rebound; households have not yet decided to replace the savings and precautionary savings made since March 2020. The improvement in the health situation and the hope of strong economic growth nevertheless make it possible to resume long savings path. At first, households will be tempted to indulge themselves by increasing their consumer spending. Long-term savings products such as life insurance should experience more dynamism in the second half of the year. Life insurance must also cope with the rise of the Retirement Savings Plan which, at the margin, reduces the amount of collections.

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