Since the 1970s, a large proportion of savings has been channelled into government bonds; the 1990s saw the first significant investments in private sector securities and, above all, in investment funds. Since then, pension funds and individual pension plans have been gradually included in households’ portfolios, and at the end of last year individual savings plans were introduced, accompanied by tax incentives.
The ratio of cash and deposits to total assets, which at the start of this century had declined to 20 per cent, has since risen to nearly 30 per cent in response to the fall in market rates and to the insecurity sparked by the financial and sovereign debt crises.