inflation effect, interest-bearing securities from 0.5 to 2% in one month

In just under a month, the rates offered on postal savings bonds issued by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti rose to quadruple in some cases. This too, if you like, is a sign of a return to the past. When that is, the Italians had to live with one inflation high but they managed to somehow protect their savings by depositing their savings at the post office or by buying government bonds. With the cost of living traveling at a rate of 8 percent, the era of savings remunerated with mini-interest rates is coming to an end. The Treasury had already led the way a couple of weeks ago with the issue of the BTP Italia, a security that guarantees a yield of 1.60 percent over the full recovery of inflation. Furthermore, the same government bonds with maturities between six and twenty years have rates that fluctuate between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent.

In short, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti also had to adapt, trying to restore appeal to postal bonds, one of the most popular products for small Italian savers. In less than a month, the public group has raised yields twice. The latest on 6 July. The rate of the classic 20-year ordinary interest-bearing bond has been quadrupled. The average gross annual yield to maturity on the bond issued since June 9, was still only 0.50 per cent. That issued from 6 July has been raised to 2 per cent. The leap is even more evident if we consider the issue that remained standing from December 2021 until last June 9 and which had a gross annual yield to maturity of only 0.30 per cent. It seems like a century has passed, and yet only seven months have passed.

THE SPRING

The surge in yields applies to all new issues of postal bonds. The 16-year one (the Bfp 4X4) has an increasing yield from 1 to 3%, against a rate ranging from 0.30% to 1.25% of the June issue. The 12-year coupon (Bfp 4X3) will yield from 0.75% to 2% for those who keep it until maturity. The previous rate started at 0.20% and stopped at 1%. The 6-year coupon (BfP 3X2) now returns 0.75% for the first three years and 1.75% from the third to the sixth year. Those who subscribed to the same product a month ago had to settle for a return of 0.2% for the first three years and 0.5% for the next three.
It is clear that the new rates will also make it easier for the post office to collect savings, which place interest-bearing bonds. For the company led by Matteo Del Fante it would probably have been difficult to continue selling postal vouchers with zero point yields and runaway inflation. But above all with a much more attractive offer of returns from other channels that could have induced the postal saver to take on greater risks, to which he is not always accustomed, to obtain returns capable of protecting savings from expensive prices. Even considering that over one thousand billion euros are still on the current accounts of Italians. In short, managing this savings is a goal. It remains to be understood why the adjustment of the bond rates of 9 June last year did not already take into account the new scenario. However, anyone who has subscribed to the lower yielding Bonds this month can disinvest without any penalty and subscribe to the decidedly more attractive new issues. The Coupons, moreover, always guarantee the repayment of the capital.