New EFAMA report shows tentative signs of change in savings behaviour and analyses the levers that can turn Europe’s savers into investors.

Today EFAMA published the third edition of its report on household participation in capital markets. The report analyses how European households allocate their financial wealth between bank deposits and capital market instruments, and examines the main factors influencing this allocation.

Some key findings include:

• European pension adequacy is increasingly under pressure. The replacement rates of public pensions (the percentage of pre-retirement income that citizens can expect to get upon retirement) will worsen in many countries, with the overall EU rate expected to fall from 46% in 2026 to 38% by 2070. This means an increasing pension gap that retirees will need to fill with private savings.

• The proportion of European household wealth held as deposits has worsened over time. In 2015, deposits were 37% of total assets, whilst in 2025 they stand at 40%. They peaked in 2022 at 42%.

• European households are effectively losing money on deposits. The opportunity cost of keeping EUR 10,000 in deposits rather than investing it in funds from 2014-2025 amounted to approximately EUR 5,131.

  • There is a small upward trend in household allocations to investment funds, reaching a historical high of 14% in 2025. Strong market appreciation since 2021 has had a substantial impact on total fund asset growth in Europe.

• Households are becoming less likely to put new money into deposits in recent years. From 2015-2019, deposits averaged 60% of new financial acquisitions, versus 45% post-2020.

• There are many levers that can be used – in conjunction – to improve household investment in capital markets, these include pension design (including auto-enrolment), savings and investment accounts (SIAs), tax-based incentives, financial literacy, and reducing complexity.

  • Only five European countries have auto-enrolment in place today. Therefore a good number of European countries currently without auto-enrolment schemes in place have scope for significnat future improvements.

  • To date, fourteen European countries have implemented SIAs, with Poland and Slovenia creating ones during 2026 and another expected in Ireland in 2027.

  • Adequate tax incentives are crucial for encouraging retail investment in capital markets. Unfortunately, many Member States are wary of granting tax incentives due to high government debt burdens, despite the fact that this can improve long-term tax collection and public finances in the long-term.

  • The Netherlands has the highest financial literacy score within Europe, contributing to a lower level of assets held as deposits. There is likely much that other European countries can learn from their example.

Dan Irwin-Brown, EFAMA’s Director of Market Insights, Data and Analytics, commented: “The data tell a clear story: European households are still leaving too much of their wealth in bank deposits and it is costing them dearly. At the same time, recent shifts in retail behaviour and the wave of national and EU initiatives on supplementary pensions, savings and investment accounts, and financial literacy, give real grounds for optimism. There is no silver bullet – but countries that pull several of these levers together can make meaningful progress, whatever their starting point.”

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Notes to Editors

You can access the full report, as well as an accompanying country-level dashboard, here.

To learn more about our work on retail participation in capital markets, visit our website here.

For further information, please contact:

Hayley McEwen

Head of Communications & Membership Development