In the insurance industry there has been strong growth in products with a more pronounced financial component, such as single premium policies, sales of which increased by 125 per cent in the first nine months of 1997. The impressive increase in asset management in 1997 was boosted by the decline in interest rates that accompanied the fall in inflation.
Small investors entrusted professional managers with savings that had previously been invested in government securities as they sought to increase their returns, inter alia through capital gains. The shift from personal investment to asset management has led to a greater diversification of households’ and firms’ investment portfolios.