The corona pandemic has significantly increased awareness of precautionary measures among Austrians. This is the result of a survey commissioned by Erste Bank Austria and Wiener Städtische Versicherung. The study presented on Wednesday was carried out by the Imas market research institute in Linz.
Austrians put an average of EUR 226 aside for provisions per month. The amount has increased significantly compared to previous years. In 2020 it was 161 euros and in 2019 it was 120 euros. Men (277 euros) put back on average more than women (173 euros) in 2021.
You can see “that the pandemic has caused people to rethink, that they want to put more aside,” said Manfred Bartalszky, CEO of Wiener Städtische. For 89 percent of those surveyed, the topic was very or rather important, and that was the highest value that the survey had achieved since 2017.
The most important prevention topics are above all health (68 percent), building up reserves for crises (68 percent) and pensions (64 percent). Bartalszky regretted that the topic of long-term care was in last place among the questions asked about provision with 31 percent.
Among the forms of savings currently in use, the “classic” savings accounts or savings cards, life insurance and home loan savers continue to dominate (see graphic). The fact that fund savings plans and securities such as shares were able to gain favor with bank and insurance customers is a “positive development,” said Erste Bank CEO Gerda Holzinger-Burgstaller. The trend is clear, but progress is slow. That is an important advisory task for financial service providers.
The money that the Austrians “forcibly” had to save in the pandemic, for example because travel was barely possible, “primarily flowed into current accounts,” said Holzinger-Burgstaller, and only a small part was put aside as financial provision. At Erste Bank, it is assumed that private consumption will increase significantly as soon as this is possible again.
“Continuous loop Corona”
The basic mood in the population was rather clouded at the end of the second year of the pandemic, said Imas study author Paul Eiselsberg. Due to the “continuous loop Corona”, a “very skeptical, very subdued, very worried basic mood” prevails. The short-term sentiment remains relatively constant compared to the previous year.
In the medium term, i.e. for the next two to three years, confidence is somewhat greater. A glimmer of hope is that the basic mood is very volatile and could change again depending on the corona situation. Economically, around one in two (52 percent) believe that the situation will get worse rather than improve. Women and younger people tend to be more skeptical.
Source: Nachrichten
