The French don’t trust equities investments, a new survey shows

The French financial watchdog, Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), recently reported a  drop in the sentiment involving the country’s equities market, especially among new investors who entered the financial industry. On the other hand, existing investors proved to be far more optimistic when it comes to the stock market, with many stating that they found it profitable over the past five years.

Results of the survey in France

The last several years have brought plenty of difficulties for the financial industry, especially the past three, since COVID-19 emerged. Fear of the pandemic made the markets around the world crash, and just after the recovery started, the war in Ukraine, coupled with the growing global inflation, once again led to great uncertainty.

However, according to French investors, the stock market has been rather profitable in the last five years. These are the results of a survey by the Audirep Institute, announced yesterday, December 20th. The survey questioned a sample of around 2,000 participants, and it took place between September and October of this year.

Interestingly, it noted a significant change in the locals’ perception of their financial future, revealing a growing interest in the stock market, while also revealing skepticism when it comes to equities.

According to the results, some 80% of the respondents have admitted to saving regularly, or at least occasionally. Meanwhile, 70% think that higher returns are coupled with higher risk. Moving on, approximately 58% of the participants were unwilling to take on greater risk, even if that meant that they were stuck with low returns on safe investments.

The percentage of those who would be willing to take greater market risks is around 27%, with their primary motivation being an attempt to offset the effects of inflation. The percentage of risk-averse participants is 42%, which is actually similar to what was reported last year. However, a few years earlier, it was at 50%, so the percentage is still down compared to that.

The survey confirms AMF’s findings regarding equities

Several months before the survey results came out, the AMF reported a 35% decline in the number of people willing to make equity transactions in Q3 2022. The results of the survey confirmed that the sentiment surrounding the equities is poor, which is surprising, given that the perception of the profitability from equities remains mostly positive. 47% said that they believe that equities investments were profitable in the past five years.

Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, the AMF Chair, noted that the decline in interest involving equities could be explained by increased risk aversion, which itself comes from greater uncertainty present within the current economy. Combined with the rise in scam offerings points the importance of AMF’s efforts to continue educating retail investors.

However, it is worth noting that the ownership of crypto investments, which are among the riskiest assets, remains stable in France. Around 8% of investors are crypto owners, with 60% of them being men that are 35 years old or younger.