Households have an average 14.39 million yen in savings and other financial assets, down 90,000 yen from a year ago, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by a semipublic organization.

The survey shows that while households increased their savings in bank deposits, their assets in life insurance products, postal insurance and investment trusts shrank as a result of diving share prices.

The poll, conducted from late June to early July by the Central Council for Financial Services Information, canvassed 6,000 households with at least two family members. A total of 70.6 percent of the households responded.

Some 32.9 percent of respondents said they took steps to keep their savings from shrinking amid the slumping economy.

Among households with savings of at least 10 million yen, 62.2 percent said they divided their savings among two or more financial institutions. Respondents said this was to protect themselves ahead of the planned abolition in fiscal 2002 of the current blanket government guarantees of deposits at banks that go insolvent.

The government plans to impose a per-depositor cap of 10 million yen per bank for reimbursing deposits in the event of a bank failure.

Some 77.1 percent of respondents said they are aware of the state-run deposit insurance system. However, more than half said they are unaware of government-backed mechanisms for protecting investments in shares and insurance policies in the event of a failure of a brokerage or insurer.