The UK’s largest investment sites have urged the government to overhaul the British savings market in an attempt to channel money into domestic equities, which have suffered from record investor outflows. AJ Bell told the Financial Times it had sent a policy paper to the Labour government asking it to consider “radical” simplification of the Individual Savings Account market, as well as tax breaks for UK stocks, to encourage retail investors to buy domestic equities.
The outflows are adding to pressure on the London Stock Exchange, which has suffered from a dearth of corporate flotations as companies seek a bigger pool of investors in the US. Summersgill said “addressing complexity seems to me to be the bare minimum any government serious about encouraging greater levels of long-term investing should aim for.