In May, savings plans in the black by 128 million

Pir inflows in May put the pedal to the metal. It was again driven by the bond products that continue to be offered by management companies. It is no coincidence that the entire sector generally slows down when the placement of these instruments stops, only to immediately pick up again as soon as they are re-proposed.

In May, two Mediolanum-branded Pir bonds (Mediolanum Obbligazionario Italia IV L and Mediolanum Obbligazionario Italia IV La), one from the Bcc Risparmio & Previdenza stable (Bcc Investire Obbligazionario Pir) and one from Eurizon (Obbligazionario Edizione 11) left the starting blocks. These products alone took a total of no less than EUR 108 million within 30 days. This figure explains quite clearly how the fate of the entire sector is actually dictated by a small number of funds. Analysing the flows by company, Mediolanum's monthly balance sheet is two-sided because a gradual handover is taking place from the longest existing products to the new proposals. A handover that also concerns the Pir specialised on bonds launched last year. There is a similar, though less obvious, trend for Eurizon, which was the first of the SGRs to start focusing on bond Pirs (it currently has 12 of them).

However, while bonds were in the sails of the wind, as demonstrated by the EUR 157 million collected in May, the other categories continued to struggle, despite the fact that outflows were smaller than in previous months. For equities, the balance was negative to the tune of EUR 2.1 million, for balanced funds, the red was EUR 4.9 million, and for flexible funds, the loss was even heavier at EUR -21.6 million. These results highlight once again the poor attraction of these instruments for investors. A story that has been repeating itself for years. The sector only survives thanks to bonds.

As has been emphasised several times in these columns, the returns of PPPs tell a different story from the inflows. It is mainly equities that offer the best results, which over the long haul often show triple-digit performances. Topping the list from 2020 to today is Leadersel Pmi with a 125 per cent appreciation, followed by Arca Azioni Italia which has grown by 113 per cent and Fideuram Piano Azioni Italia and Sella Investimenti Azionari Italia Pir which have both appreciated by over 102 per cent. Since five years have passed and all these gains are therefore tax-free, it is easy to decide to exit with a similar gain and then perhaps reposition oneself on a quieter bond fund, better if Pir compliant.

Even narrowing the time span and analysing the performance of savings plans from the beginning of 2025 to date, the results are positive with peaks of 18% among equities for Leadersel Pmi and 16.9% for Arca Azioni Italia and, among flexible products, 16.5% for Consultinvest Risparmio. Minus signs for only two products, namely Arca Economia Reale Equity Italia (-9.8%) and New Millenium Aim Sistema Italia (-2.7%).