Life insurance inflows on the rise

French life insurers saw inflows rise 15 percent in the first five months of the year as investors put more cash in higher-risk unit-linked funds than guaranteed-return funds for the first time, the French insurance federation said recently.

The development is good news for life insurers such as AXA and CNP Assurances, which have had to contend with rock-bottom interest rates that have hampered efforts to generate the returns needed to maintain payout guarantees.

French savers who invest in life insurance contracts have until now preferred the safety of euro-denominated funds, but that has changed as yields have fallen to record lows this year.

Net inflows were EUR10.7 billion (USD11.99 billion) in the first five months of 2015, compared with EUR9.3 billion in the same period last year, according to the FFSA.