The Livret A passbook savings account – a benchmark savings product – is one of the oldest French savings accounts to have kept its original form, proof of the commitment of the Caisses d’Epargne to promote savings for all. The Livret A passbook savings account was first created on May 22, 1818 (at the same time as the first Caisse d’Epargne) by the philanthropists Benjamin Delessert and François de la Rochefoucauld. For these two benefactors, savings and education were the two keys to the promotion of provident behavior…

Account holders
 
A popular savings product that is both easy to use and provides customers with immediate access to their deposits, the Livret A passbook account is now available to all natural persons – both minors and those who have come of age – on the basis of one account per person. Each account holder can save up to €15,300 and earn interest at the rate of 1.75% per annum (as of May 1, 2009), free of income tax.

Non-profit associations (subject to certain conditions) may open a Livret A passbook account and make deposits up to a maximum total of €76,500. Social housing bodies (public and private HLM social housing organizations) can also make deposits on Livret A accounts with no upper limit on their investment.

Until January 1, 2009, the distribution of the Livret A was reserved to the Caisses d’Epargne and the Post Office Bank. It is now available from all French banks that have signed an agreement with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC).

Calculation of the Livret A interest rate
 
Since July 1st, 2004, the Banque de France determines, on January 15 and July 15 of every year, the rate of interest paid on Livret A passbook accounts. According to the decree dated January 29, 2008, “the interest rates of the first passbook accounts of the French savings banks, of savings accounts created for the benefit of manual workers, and of the sustainable development passbook accounts are equal – after being rounded off to the nearest quarter percentage point or, failing this, after being rounded up to the next quarter percentage point – to the highest figure between:
- a. The arithmetic mean between, firstly, one half of the sum of the monthly average of the 3-month Euribor and the monthly average of the Eonia, and, secondly, the rate of inflation in France as measured by the change in the INSEE consumer price index for all French households over the previous 12 months for which figures exist,
- b. The rate of inflation referred to in "a" above, increased by one quarter of a percentage point.”

The decree dated January 27, 2009 specifies that, in addition to these calculations, the Banque de France may now carry out intermediate calculations on April 15 and October 15 and, depending on the results obtained, a review of the interest rates may be recommended, and indeed applied, on May 1 and November 1. The Bank has four working days to send the results of this calculation to the Director of the French Treasury. When the result of the calculation calls for a change in the rates, the Director of the French Treasury takes the necessary steps to have the new rates published in the official gazette of the French Republic.

Centralization of funds
 
A portion of the funds deposited on the Livret A and sustainable development passbook (LDD) accounts is centralized by the Caisse des Dépôts in the savings fund under its management. The CDC is responsible for transforming the funds collected through the Livret A and various other popular savings products into long-term, low interest-rate loans granted to social housing bodies with a view to financing the construction of rental and social housing units and the pursuit of urban renovation programs.

The portion of deposits on Livret A and LDD passbook account centralized by the CDC is established in such a way as to ensure that the funds centralized from these savings accounts in the savings fund is at least equal to the amount of loans granted from this fund for social housing and urban development policies by the Caisse des Dépôts, adjusted by a multiplying coefficient equal to 1.25.

The funds collected from deposits on Livret A or LDD savings accounts that are not centralized are used to finance small- and medium-sized enterprises, notably in their creation and development phases, as well as to finance work designed to improve the energy efficiency of established buildings.