Europeans are Sitting on €10 Trillion Cash, But Refuse To Invest It

Euro area households are sitting on nearly €10 trillion ($11.5 trillion) in cash and low-yield bank deposits. Around 80% own no stocks or other market investments, the European Central Bank (ECB) said Tuesday.

The euro area covers the 20 countries that use the euro. That cash pile is about a third of all the financial assets those households hold. It earns little or nothing.

Where the €10 Trillion in Cash Actually Sits

Five ECB economists sorted households into four groups by what they own. More than 60% hold most of their wealth in property, usually the home they live in.

About 25% keep their savings parked in deposits, with almost no market exposure. Roughly 10% reach markets indirectly, through workplace pensions and insurance policies.

Only 4% put a sizeable share of their wealth directly into shares, bonds or funds. The findings come from a survey of thousands of euro area families, matched against a similar US survey.

3 Reasons Europeans Avoid the Stock Market

Money is not the main barrier. Among households that can afford to invest:

• The strongest deterrent is how risky they believe shares to be.
• Thin knowledge of financial products ranks second.
• Low trust in financial markets comes third.

That ranking draws on the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey, a separate poll of euro area consumers.

“For households that are not financially constrained, perceived risk is the main barrier to investing in stocks or equity-based mutual funds,” read an excerpt in the bank’s blog.

The ECB noted that weak financial literacy can itself feed both the distrust and the fear of risk.

The gap with American households widens as wealth rises. Among the richest fifth, more than 65% of Americans hold shares, bonds or funds. The euro area figure is under 45%.

That rules out affordability as the whole explanation. Investment habits, the products on offer and the design of national pension systems all shape the outcome, the ECB said.

ECB Wants to Make Investment Options More Accessible

No single measure reaches every group, the authors argued. They pointed to Slovenia’s national financial education program and to Finland’s simple equity investment accounts.

“To be effective, an EU-wide strategy needs to do more than make capital market products easier to access and more transparent.”

They also cited Dutch workplace pensions, which invest on savers’ behalf without any decision from the saver. Finland now has 37% of households holding funds, listed shares or both.

The ECB wants faster progress on savings and investment accounts across the bloc. Market returns, it argued, help households build wealth over decades.

However, a savings habit built over generations can be hard to change. Policy alone might not be sufficient.

Whether a savings habit built over generations can shift with policy alone is the question the blog leaves open.

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