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Road to the Saving Gateway is paved with opportunity

March 11, 2008

Road to the Saving Gateway is paved with opportunity

In a year of tough decisions about spending priorities, taxes and new Government initiatives, the Chancellor has a unique opportunity to help millions of people in Britain understand the merit of savings.

In the two trials to date, the Saving Gateway—a scheme of Government matching for savings— has proven an important tool to stimulate saving among the target group, for whom existing tax incentives may not appeal. The experience and lessons of these trials have conclusively demonstrated that this type of initiative encourages saving and gives greater general awareness of the value of savings.

TISA believes that it is now the right time to announce a UK-wide roll-out of this initiative, which would extend the benefits of saving to ever more people across the UK. TISA has supported HM Treasury and HMRC in their preliminary work on Saving Gateway and is delighted to take a leading role in advocating the creation of this new incentivised savings scheme. When developed in co-ordination with the financial services industry and properly integrated with other savings schemes,

TISA believes that the Saving Gateway will make real progress in encouraging and expanding savings habit all across the United Kingdom. TISA Director General Tony Vine-Lott said, ‘Building on the mass market success of ISAs and Child Trust Funds held by over 20 million people, we believe that the Saving Gateway is the logical next step. By targeting those who aren’t saving and providing new, simple incentives, we believe that we can realise nearly 2 million new savers.’

NOTES TO EDITORS: TISA is the trade association for the retail financial services sector. TISA works to improve tax incentivised savings schemes and promotion of savings in the UK.

TISA works closely with industry, parliamentarians, HM Treasury, HM Revenue & Customs and the Financial Services Authority to enhance and improve the range, features, benefits, promotion and quality of savings schemes available to all savers in the UK. These include Individual Savings Accounts, Child Trust Funds, personal pensions, employer-based schemes, and other consumer-centric, Government savings schemes and savings initiatives. For more information visit www.tisa.uk.com or email enquiries@tisa.uk.com

For more information, please contact: Jacob Coy, Cicero Consulting +44 7900 392 531 or jacob.coy@cicero-europe.com

Tony Vine-Lott, Director General of TISA +44 1372 374 728 or 0790 006 108 or tony.vinelott@tisa.uk.com