The French financial market supervisor, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has witnessed a drop in the sentiment among new investors to invest in the country's equities market compared to last year. However, existing French investors are more optimistic about the stock market.

French Investors Express Concerns in Latest AMF Survey

Announced on Tuesday, the conclusion came after a survey by the Audirep Institute, which interviewed a sample of 2,000 representatives between September and October. It shows "a change in French people's perceptions of their financial future and in their interest in the stock market."

Though 80 percent of the French survey respondents said they save regularly or occasionally, 70 percent believe that "higher returns are associated with higher risk." Further, 58 percent of the respondents do not want to take "a little more risk" in their investments despite the low returns of the guaranteed investments.

However, 27 percent of French would be willing to take market risks primarily to offset the effects of inflation. The number of risk-averse individuals remains stable at 42 percent compared to last year but dropped from 50 percent a couple of years earlier.

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AMF Survey Shows Dip in Equities Investments for French Investors

These survey results of poor equities investment sentiment came less than a couple of months after the AMF revealed around a 35 percent decline in the number of individuals making equity transactions in the third quarter of 2022.

On the contrary, the perception of the profitability from equities investment remains largely positive among the French, as 47 percent believe such investments were profitable in the past five years.

"The French's lower appetite for equities investments can be explained by a more uncertain economic climate which reinforces risk aversion," said AMF's Chair, Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani. "These developments, along with the increasing importance of scam offerings, underlines the importance for the AMF to continue its educational efforts in order to support retail investors and give them the keys to invest and diversify their savings over the long term."

The ownership of riskier cryptocurrency investments remains stable among French investors. Among the survey respondents, 8 percent owned cryptocurrencies , but 60 percent were under 35 years, and 60 percent of them were men.