"People are becoming increasingly aware that their financial choices have the potential to make a positive social and environmental impact, but social finance still represents just 0.5% of the total retail savings market, so there's a lot more work to be done."
So says Martina Mettgenberg, head of France's social finance observatory, after the release of the 22nd edition of the Social Finance Barometer, a report that shows a 15% increase in retail savings and investments in France over the past year.
That brings total solidarity-based savings in France to $30.2 billion in 2023, or 0.5% of household financial savings, up from 0.45% in 2022, Impact Investor reports.
The barometer covers three channels: savings products from banks and mutual insurers, employee savings schemes, and direct investment through shares and bonds issued by (unlisted) social enterprises.
Direct investment into solidarity-based companies and projects grew 17.6%, while employee savings into such companies grew 19.5%.
But Mettgenberg says there's more to be done: "We are conducting several studies to try to understand how we can accelerate this market share."
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