The Youth Booklet will bring in even less in 2022, despite inflation

Budding savers are not spoiled. Open a Youth Savings Account with BNP Paribas or Hello bank! then filling it up to the ceiling of 1,600 euros currently yields the tidy sum of … 16 euros net per year. The leading European bank and its dematerialized subsidiary only offer a rate of 1% on this product intended for 12-25 year olds. An unflattering return, which is still positioned above the market average, 0.89% at the end of September 2021, according to the Banque de France. And its young clients have apparently eaten their white bread because BNP Paribas is preparing to lower the remuneration of its Youth Account to the legal minimum, ie the rate of the Livret A. “The rate of our Youth Account will be reduced from 1 % to 0.50% on January 1, 2022 ”, BNP Paribas announces to Capital. And this, in spite of galloping inflation which reached a peak of 2.6% over one year in October 2021. In short: while the cost of living increases, the return on savings falls. A obviously losing deal for the young BNP clients, who, if inflation persists at this level in the coming months, could receive a real return (net of inflation) of -2.1% (0.50% – 2.6%) in 2022 …

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The gap is reduced with the Livret A

If lowering the remuneration of the Livret Jeune may seem surprising – the rate of the Livret A should increase on February 1 – this decision perfectly symbolizes the trajectory of the performance of the Livrets Jeunes for several years. To be convinced, back 10 years, in November 2011. The rate of the Livret A then appears at 2.25% and the youth savings accounts serve an average of 3.33%, or 1.08 point of return in more. But over the successive planes on the remuneration of the Livret A, the gap continues to decrease. So much so that in January 2020, the Livret A, which then serves 0.75%, “returns” only 0.40 point to the average of the Livrets Jeunes, then 1.15%, according to the Banque de France. And the change in the Livret A rate to 0.50% on February 1, 2020 does not help, the average yield of the Livret Jeune gradually crumbling, from 1.15% to 0.89% in September 2021.

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Banks free to set their own rate

One observation, therefore: the banks are copying the rate of the Livret A that of the Livret Jeune. When the performance of the first falls, the second follows. Nothing illogical about that since the law allows financial institutions to set this remuneration as they see fit. This is also recalled in the annual report of the Observatory of Regulated Savings of the Banque de France published in September 2021: less equal to that of booklet A. ” And they take full advantage of this ability to converge the rate of their Youth Booklet with that of the Livret A …

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A maximum of 2% at HSBC

Illustration of the floor rates served by banks today, BNP Paribas and Hello bank !, with their yield ready to plunge to 0.5%, are not isolated cases. Three other large banks already practice this legal minimum: Société Générale, Crédit Agricole with its Young Mozaïc Booklet and Savings Banks. The Postal Bank is doing a little better, with 0.75% annual interest on this product, as is the Bred (People’s Bank). Axa Banque offers compensation of 1%, like Banque Populaire Val de France.

On the other hand, few establishments set the rate for their Youth Booklet above the symbolic barrier of 1%. Let us cite all the same the Crédit coopératif with 1.25%, the CIC and the Crédit mutuel (1.35%), the Banque populaire Rives de Paris and Milleis Banque (1.50%), the Banque populaire Méditerranée (1.75%). %) and a maximum of 2% at HSBC.

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Good news with the increase in the Livret A rate

Questioned by Capital, most of the banks do not plan, for the time being, to increase the rate of their Livret Jeune in 2022, the latter content to claim to follow closely the evolution of inflation. The less generous among them who serve a remuneration limited to 0.50% could however be forced to do so as of February 1. It is on this date that the rate of the Livret A – ie 0.50% and, let us remember, the minimum return required on a Livret Jeune – should be revised upwards. Finally, good news for the holders of a Youth Booklet.