Ed Balls, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has provided further details on the changes to be made to the UK PEP and ISA savings scheme.
He says that there will continue to be separate limits to the amounts that can be invested each year for cash and stock. However, he also announced that investors will be able to transfer investments held in the cash component of ISA into the stocks and shares component. To date, investors have always had to retain their investments in the component into which they originally invested. It is worth noting that the Government has indicated that transfers from stocks and shares to cash will not be allowed.
“This is fantastic news for the industry and investors alike,” says Alec Hoffman, the Head of the Retail Fund Servicing Practice at the independent investment management consultancy Etheios. “The ability to transfer cash held in ISAs into shares was something the industry had pressed strongly for but was not mentioned in Balls’ initial announcement on the ISA changes. This move is totally in keeping with the Government’s and industry’s desire for life cycle aligned savings vehicles since investors can now move cash invested over several years to equities and mutual funds that are more geared to meeting the need for long term growth”.
“In recent years there have been growing concerns from consumer groups and sections of the industry that the market is not working as well as it could, raising questions about whether regulation and appropriate redress should apply to the selling of travel insurance,” says Balls. “We therefore need to get to the bottom of whether travel insurance sold with a holiday is being mis-sold, and whether we need to be doing more to educate consumers to consider the cover they want and ensure that they are properly informed.”
The review will investigate whether travel insurance sold with a holiday is being mis-sold and the consultation launched today sets out options to improve the selling of insurance provided by travel agents. These options include strengthened self-regulation by the travel insurance industry and the possibility of full regulation by the Financial Services Authority.