September accounts in the black by EUR 208 million

It is still bonds that hold the reins of the entire system of individual savings plans. On an overall level, the sector closed September with a profit of 208 million euro, of which 205 million were brought in by products specialising in bonds. This is further proof that PIRs are no longer focusing on risk capital as they did at the beginning of their history, but are progressively and increasingly consolidating their orientation towards debt securities. A choice that in terms of security may be more suitable for those who do not want to take risks, but certainly not from the point of view of yield, at least from what has been seen on the market so far.

Undoubtedly, those who bet on the share Pir have been amply repaid in terms of return, but judging by the trend, it seems almost as if this train has passed only once, because those who invested in the first three years since the debut of these products, at the end of five years preferred to liquidate the positions, taking advantage of the tax relief provided by the legislator and without paying much attention to the future of the real economy. A legitimate and understandable attitude. However, after those outflows, there was no flow of fresh capital directed mainly into the coffers of the shares.

The flows, on the other hand, have filled the coffers of bond products, the only ones to occupy a small space in the portfolios of Italian households (few in truth). But even in this case, the decision to diversify into bond savings plans is dictated more by considerations of convenience than by a well-considered choice to bet on small and medium-sized Italian companies: if the five-year time horizon is reached, well, in the event of a return, no capital gain is paid. If not, however, it will be like having invested in a traditional bond fund.

And it is no coincidence that for some time now, as has often been emphasised in these columns, the bond Pir segment is the only one to show dynamism in terms of new proposals. 38 of the 90 Pir analysed by the Plus24 Observatory are bonds, and of these, the majority were born in the course of the last year. Only a couple of years ago, products of this type could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

In terms of individual products, this time it is a Mediolanum Pir (Obbligazionario V La) that has collected the most money, with a positive balance of 73 million. Second place for Bcc Investire Obbligazionario Pir, with a profit of 55 million, and third place for Eurizon Obbligazionario Edizione 12, with inflows of 47.4 million. Another product from the Mediolanum stable (Flessibile Sviluppo Italia) and two from Amundi (Risparmio Italia B and Sviluppo Attivo Italia B) close the list