Study: Some 28% of respondents prefer to keep their savings at home

  Approximately 28% of the interviewees prefer to keep their savings at home or in foreign currency, and over 25% would place in banks, a large share at the level of Romania’s population, which means they are reluctant to take risks, Valentin Ionescu, president of the Institute for Financial Studies (ISF) and director general of the Directorate General of Insurance at the ASF, said on Thursday, citing the results of a study conducted with INSCOP Research."Some 28% of respondents would prefer to keep their saved money in cash or foreign currency. There is still a very high proportion of the population in Romania, more than 25%, would deposit it in a bank, 15% would invest it in real estate, land, houses or apartments and only 8% would start a business. As a result, Romanians prefer to keep their savings in foreign currency, i.e. in bank deposits, which means that they are reluctant to take risks. Only 3.5% of the sample would have agreed to invest in shares and bonds listed on the stock exchange, which is a very small percentage", said Valentin Ionescu, at the conference "Quo Vadis 2024 - 6th Edition Challenges in Financial Education in Romania!".   On the other hand, the main reasons for getting a voluntary insurance mentioned by those who had such a policy were personal medical matters, request on the part of the banks or difficult situations for their relatives or friends.The Institute for Financial Studies, in partnership with INSCOP Research started a study of a representative sample, of over 1,300 people aged over 18 at national level. The study evaluated the behavior of the consumers of non-banking financial services which is tightly connected to the level of financial education. The study chose ten financial products from the three domains: private pensions, insurances and investments.According to the same study, the most important selection criterion for insurance was the price.  ‘Even if the interest of the population increased for acquisition of insurance online, the lartest part of the interviewees, over 80% stated that they got the latest policy at the headquarters of the insurance company or after a discussion with a broker’ the ASF representative said.As regards the degree of use of non-banking financial products, the degree of inclusing, this is relatively low, the study says."First of all, it depends on whether they are compulsory or voluntary, the level of income earned, the level of education, and of course the level of financial education of the respondents. The take-up ranged between 4.2% for shares, bonds and fund units and the highest take-up, somewhere above 45%, for compulsory MTPL insurance", added Valentin Ionescu.   According to the survey, more than 51% of respondents said they are very well informed about non-bank financial products.   On the other hand, over 37% of respondents have not purchased any non-bank financial product in the last 3 years and over 79% of respondents answered that they do not know the private pension fund they are allocated to.   Also, only 26% of respondents had heard that they can benefit from a tax deduction of up to €400 per year when contributing to a voluntary private pension fund. In terms of awareness, this is high among the population, with over 80% of respondents having some knowledge of these products.   According to the source quoted, the highest level of awareness was recorded on life insurance, with over 87% of respondents having heard of this instrument.