We need more retail investors to get Britain growing, Rachel Reeves told
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told to introduce measures in the Autumn Budget which will encourage more people in the UK to become retail investors.
Speaking on an up-coming episode of Morning Wire‘s Boardroom Uncovered show, ClearScore CEO Justin Basini said that more people needed to be persuaded to start investing as a key way to help boost Britain’s growth.
When asked what he would ask Rachel Reeves if he could pick up the phone to her ahead of the Budget, Basini said: “I think there are a few things that I would ask for.
“The first is to continue her efforts to unlock the huge amount of capital that is sitting on the sidelines.
“There is a lot of money sitting there waiting to be invested.
“I think it needs to come to UK capital markets. I think it needs to come to UK companies.
“So all of the Mansion House accords that she puts out encouraging pension funds to invest in great UK companies, listed UK companies – I would be really encouraging of that.
“Then I would also be encouraging of getting retail investors to start to see the long-term potential of backing UK businesses.”
He added: “All of this retail money sitting mostly in cash, especially when people have time to ride out the ups and downs of the stock market, they will get better returns and UK businesses get the backing that they need.
“Over the long term, especially with younger people, investing in equities is the route to get a better return than just keeping it in cash.
“We’ve got to have these conversations with people and we’ve got to start to think about that and get the money flowing back into backing UK business.
“It’ll be good for savers in the long run. It’ll be good for pension funds and it will be good for British business and it’ll be good for the London Stock Exchange as well.”
ClearScore CEO eyes London float
Also in the Boardroom Uncovered episode, Basini said that floating ClearScore on the London Stock Exchange would be “my signature achievement”.
He stated London feels like the “natural home” for the company instead of choosing to follow fellow UK tech firms and list in New York instead.
If an initial public offering in the capital is followed through on, ClearScore is estimated to command a value of between £1.5bn and £2.5bn.
The Boardroom Uncovered interview comes after the company’s pre-tax profit almost quadrupled in 2024 to £17.9m while its revenue also increased 17 per cent to £89.7m.