SALES OF MINI EQUITY ISAs 88% UP ON LAST YEAR
The PEP and ISA Manager’s Association today announced that the number of stocks and shares mini ISAs opened in quarter 3 of the 2002 tax year were up by 88% on the same quarter in 2001. The latest figures from the Inland Revenue show that £20 billion was invested in total in ISAs in the tax year up to December 2002, which is only marginally below previous years. However, there has been a drop in the number of investors opening maxi ISAs, while, this has been concurrent with a rise in the value of investment in cash and cash based products.
The fall in investment in equity based ISAs has been cited as a major problem by some financial trade bodies, increasing speculation that ISAs are becoming less favoured as a saving product, when in fact many investors are ‘hedging their bets’ by splitting their money between the relatively safe option of a cash ISA and a stocks and shares mini ISA.
PIMA argue that the drop off is not as great as people seem to think. Tony Vine-Lott, Director General of PIMA said:
“In the current environment there has been a lot said about the drop in the number of investors in ISAs. However, this is not the full picture, many products are selling well, we would like to give a balanced view of the situation. The switch between equity and cash based ISAs is showing the prudent and sensible nature of today’s investor and the £20 billion invested up to December 2002 indicates that ISAs are still a highly successful savings vehicle for the general public”
Notes to Editors:
For more information on the statistics please see:
http://www.pima.co.uk/docs/force.php?application=application/pdf&fileName=200301W.pdf&dl=open