Protecting popular savings
Sums deposited under the Livret A government-backed savings scheme fund the construction of social housing. Part of the funds deposited in regulated savings schemes, such as Livret A, are managed by Caisse des Dépôts. Caisse des Dépôts then converts them into long-term, public interest loans.
At the heart of the roles assigned by law to Caisse des Dépôts is the protection of popular savings: regulated, tax-exempt savings schemes like Livret A. The funds collected and managed centrally by Caisse des Dépôts constitute the "savings funds". Thanks to this resoruce, Caisse des Dépôts grants loans to sectors of prime importance for the country, such as social housing and urban renewal.
Savings fund resources: regulated savings
These "savings" funds come from cash savings schemes or "livrets": Livret A, Livret Bleu, Livret d'epargne populaire (LEP), Livret de développement durable (LDD, called Codevi until June 2006)
These regulated savings schemes are granted tax benefits: the interest earned by savers is exempt from tax. Furthermore, Livret A is State-guaranteed. Part of the money deposited is therefore, in return, used to finance sectors which benefit the country as a whole. This is the purpose behind centralising deposited sums with Caisse des Dépôts.
The primary role of Caisse des Dépôts is to ensure the security and liquidity of this large quantity of savings. Requests to withdraw funds made by savings account holders should be honoured at any time.
Caisse des Dépôts also remunerates savers, and pays commissions owed to the banking networks which distribute these products.
The rules governing the centralisation of funds
The Law on economic modernisation stipulates that the level of funds centralised with Caisse des Dépôts is set above a minimum which corresponds to the sums needed to finance social housing and urban policy. The funds centralised can never therefore be lower than 125% of the amounts outstanding on loans for social housing and urban policy. This provision ensures that Caisse des Dépôts is also able to carry out this central financing role.
The balance between security and remuneration of savings and financing general investment at the best possible price
The savings funds held centrally by Caisse des Dépôts constitute the resource against which it makes its public interest investments.
This resource has a cost: remuneration for savers (the interest paid every year on deposits) and remuneration for the distributing bank networks.
However, loans against savings funds benefit public interest sectors: they must therefore offer the most advantageous financial conditions possible.
Caisse des Dépôts must constantly strive to find a balance between two priorities: on the one hand, the security and remuneration of savings; and on the other hand, the best-price financing of programmes which benefit the country as a whole
To guarantee this balance, and the profitability of the vast mechanism used to convert savings into very long-term loans granted at the cost of the resource, Caisse des Dépôts invests a substantial proportion of the centralised funds on the financial markets.
The results obtained by the management of the savings funds top up the equity capital which guarantees the security of the system.
Under the terms of the guarantee which it gives to the Livret A scheme, every year the State collects the surplus equity capital, which is subject to an opinion given by the Supervisory Board. Since 1984, Caisse des Dépôts has paid more than €70bn into the State's budget in this way.
Caisse des Dépôts fulfils, at cost price, the double role of managing savings funds and financing public interest programmes which fall within the remit of the public service mandates which are assigned to it by law. The management of savings funds is separated from its other public institution activities, and is recorded in a distinct and non-consolidated portfolio accounting system.
