•  In order to secure retirement income, households have significantly increased the portion of their financial assets managed by institutional investors, such as pension funds, mutual funds and insurance companies: in the three largest economies of the euro area, in the last decade this share increased on average by 10 percentage points to more than a third.
•  Due to these demographic and financial changes, households are exposed to considerable financial risk. This reflects the shift in composition of their portfolios in favour of riskier assets, held directly and via institutional investors, and the switch from “defined benefit” to “defined contribution” pension schemes.