Chancellor to allow ISAs to hold fractional shares in effort to boost investment: report
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is reportedly set to announce major changes to individual savings accounts (ISAs) in his autumn statement on Wednesday in an attempt to boost investment in UK companies.
The sweeping reforms will include changing rules around fractional shares and long-term asset funds, unnamed senior officials told the Financial Times.
Hunt is also set to announce plans for an online portal for savers to pay into multiple accounts each year.
The proposals will be accompanied by a comprehensive consultation into ISA reforms, which a group of City chiefs called for in an open letter last week.
Officials said the reforms would moderate the Treasury’s earlier plans for a dedicated UK equities allowance, which have been postponed until next year.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that Hunt was considering allowing ISAs to hold fractional shares to boost investment in the stock market.
The Treasury aims to streamline ISAs before it raises the tax-free savings allowance from £20,000, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
“The rule preventing ISA savers subscribing to more than one version of each type of ISA never made much sense,” AJ Bell’s head of retirement policy Tom Selby said earlier this month.
“Ditching this rule removes one of the key blockers to more fundamental reform and would be an extremely welcome step in the right direction.”
Morning Wire approached the Treasury for comment.