#SAVINGS & FINANCIAL PRODUCTS
French residents hold 51% of their listed equities in French-issued shares, while France accounts for 3 to 4% of world stock market capitalisation.
Published on August 27, 2026 · to be rechecked on June 1, 2027
On 1 June 2026, Olivier Garnier published a VoxEU/CEPR column breaking down where European residents' financial investments actually end up, computed from national financial accounts for the fourth quarter of 2024. For France, listed equity held by all resident sectors splits into 51% issued in France, 15% in the rest of the euro area and 34% outside it. France accounts for 3 to 4% of world stock market capitalisation, the euro area for just over 10%, the United States for close to half. The pattern is not new: French and Poterba measured it as early as 1991 — 94% domestic holdings in American portfolios, more than 98% for Japanese investors, 82% for British ones.
Is French savings flooding out of the country?
51% of the listed equities held by French residents are French securities, in a country that accounts for 3 to 4% of world market capitalisation. The bias runs the other way.
In other words: France is overweighted by a factor of roughly fifteen relative to its share of world market capitalisation.
Four caveats, because they matter
- The figure covers all resident sectors, not households alone, whose direct securities holdings are under 10% of their financial assets.
- A US share held through a Luxembourg fund counts as a euro area asset: the non-euro-area share is slightly understated.
- Home bias is weaker on debt securities, where the euro removed exchange-rate risk between member states.
- A country's weight in world market capitalisation is a benchmark for comparison, not an allocation rule.
Why it still matters: the debate about European savings 'fleeing' abroad is about where money goes, when the figures mostly show how firmly it stays home.
For you
- Is a portfolio with 51% in a market worth 3 to 4% of the world diversified?
- Did you know French residents hold more than half of their listed equities in French securities?
Source: Olivier Garnier, VoxEU/CEPR, 1 June 2026, calculations based on national financial accounts (Q4 2024); French and Poterba, 'Investor Diversification and International Equity Markets', American Economic Review, May 1991.
View the source →