What could the new savings account dedicated to industry wanted by Barnier look like?

During his general policy speech, the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, spoke of the creation of a new savings account intended to finance the industrial sector. A proposal far from being new and which already raises many questions.

Soon a new booklet in the French saver’s toolkit? In any case, this is what the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, suggested during his general policy speech on Tuesday, October 1, before Parliament. The new tenant of Matignon has in fact proposed the creation of a “new savings account dedicated to industry”the aim of which will be to promote a “better mobilization of French savings”in order to “sustain” there “industrial dynamics” of the country.

But more concretely, can we already have an idea of ​​what this new booklet could look like? For Philippe Crevel, director of the Circle of Savings, the philosophy of such a savings product is, in any case, clear: “it is about directing household savings towards an industrial policy that the State no longer has the means to carry out”. The sums deposited in this booklet could, for example, be earmarked specifically for national companies in the industrial sector.

An objective already entrusted to Codevi… in 1983

“An idea that is not very new since it was already the objective of a booklet launched in 1983”recalls Philippe Crevel, the Codevi, which has since become Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet (LLDS). Moreover, like the Livret A, the latter is already used to finance the French economy: on almost 600 billion euros deposited in these two regulated savings accounts, 40% are managed by banks, to finance loans for VSEs and SMEs.

Already in 2023, the idea of ​​directing this savings towards a very specific industry, that of defense, had been put on the table and integrated into the 2024 finance bill (PLF), before being rebutted by the Council constitutional. Which led the Minister of the Economy at the time, Bruno Le Maire, to say he was in favor of “a European savings product (…) which will allow us to finance major projects on climate transition, AI or defense”. The elected socialist Rachid Temal also tabled a bill in early 2023 aimed at the creation of a “Sovereignty Defense Savings Book” (LEDS), ultimately rejected by the Senate.

A new regulated booklet potentially costly for public finances

Mobilizing the savings of the French to finance an industrial policy has therefore been on the cards for a while. But the outlines of a booklet dedicated to it continue to raise questions. “First, for this to work, we can imagine that it will be necessary to put in place a tax incentive, like on other regulated savings accounts, on which interest is, for example, exempt from tax”recalls Philippe Crevel.

However, this exemption has a cost each year for the Public Treasury, with a shortfall in tax revenue of more than 2 billion euros in 2023. All this, while from the first words of his speech, Michel Barnier advocated a more great control of public spending… We can also question the relevance of creating “a new liquid savings product (from which funds can be withdrawn at any time, NLDR), while financing the industry requires a long-term investment”points Philippe Crevel

In this case, further encouraging the financing of industry via products such as life insurance, the Retirement Savings Plan (PER) or the Stock Savings Plan (PEA) seems more logical. This without finally forgetting that new savings products do not always find favor in the eyes of the French: launched on July 1, the Future Climate Savings Plan (PEAC) intended to specifically finance companies engaged in the ecological transition “is not yet offered by any establishment” underlines Philippe Crevel. Launching this type of investment is not a smooth ride.