Decrease in the rate of Livret A: Banque de France recommends a simple and profitable solution

From August 1ᵉʳ 2025, the rate of the booklet will plunge 1.7 %, penalizing the 58 million French people who place their savings there. A strategic, but unpopular decision, which again opens up the debate on access to just and effective savings. In response, the Banque de France exhumes a long underused solution: the popular savings book. In this battle of yields, the fracture lines between security and performance are redrawing.

The fall of booklet A: a technical decision, massive consequences

The drop in the rate of booklet A at 1.7 % from 1^er August 2025, acted Wednesday July 16 by the director general of the Caisse des Dépôts, Éric Lombard, is a turning point for millions of savers.

The information was confirmed in a strictly regulatory framework, on the basis of the legal indexing formula combining inflation and monetary rate. Recall that in January, the same product still displayed a yield of 3 %, a division by almost two in a few months.

If the monetary authorities invoke the logic of the system, “We strictly apply the formula provided for by law”argued the Banque de France, the concrete consequences are immediate for 83 % of French people holders of an A book.

This return on the yield occurs while inflation slows down clearly. According to The data communicated by the Banque de Franceinflation in the first half of 2025 is 0.9 %, which makes the new rate of the booklet has an almost zero real yield product. It should also be noted that:

• The next rate adjustment will not intervene before 1^er February 2026, extending this period of low remuneration;

• The booklet remains capped at € 22,950, but that does not compensate for its lessened return;

• This drop weakens the attractiveness of the product, in particular in the face of competing banking solutions;

• For modest savers, who use this booklet as their main savings tool, the shortfall is significant.

In this context, the call launched by the Banque de France in favor of the popular savings book takes on its full meaning. However, this alternative is not as widespread as it could be, despite its tangible advantages.

LEP: the designated alternative, but also marginalized

During a press conference held Thursday, July 17, François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Banque de France, A recalled that the LEP constitutes “The most advantageous product today of regulated savings”.

Both tax exempt, secure, liquid, and above all displaying a rate of 2.7 % up to 1^er February 2026, this booklet checks many boxes in terms of capital protection. However, despite clear eligibility conditions, annual income less than € 22,823 for a single person or € 35,012 for a couple, they remain massively underused. 12 million LEPs are currently open, while 19 million French people would both have income conditions and the ability to save.

The Banque de France admits that “Lots of progress has been made”especially between 2021 and 2024 with an increase of 5 million new LEPs open, but this remains insufficient. The institution now alerts to the 7 million eligible French people who have still not opened this product, although they sometimes already have an A booklet.

The lower payment ceiling, € 10,000 against € 22,950 for booklet A, is not enough to justify this disaffection. In reality, it is more psychological factors, gaps in banking information, even a lack of proactivity of banking establishments themselves which slow down this transition to a more favorable booklet.

Apart from the LEP, other options are available to savers seeking to diversify their portfolio in the face of a decline rate context. Cryptos, in particular bitcoin, appear for some as a potential solution for preservation of value, even long -term yield. However, this type of investment requires an in -depth understanding of mechanisms, risks of volatility, as well as stakes of conservation and taxation. It is not a universal alternative, but a lever which can be considered with caution, provided that it is properly studying its foundations before any commitment decision.

Beyond the immediate arbitration between two regulated products, this situation questions the way in which financial information is disseminated and the equity of access to efficient savings. The Banque de France seems to want to accelerate on this ground, in particular by publicly recalling the real performance of the LEP, greater than the inflation of almost three times. However, the impact will remain limited as long as banks, advisers and simulation tools do not fully integrate this solution into their recommendations to eligible households.