Growth of ISA sales suggests increasing trend of online investing

Fidelity FundsNetwork has experienced a total sales increase of 37 per cent in its ISA season sales year on year, suggesting that the trend of online investing is rising. While it has been widely reported that there has been an overall fall in ISA sales across the industry, gross ISA sales on FundsNetwork have increased by almost 29 per cent.

After another busy end of tax year, Fidelity FundsNetwork today reports gross ISA season sales of £542million, an increase of 29 per cent on last year. Over the same time period, the fund supermarket also experienced a massive uplift of 413 per cent for investments into its SIPP, taking net sales from £25million to £128million. On the 5th April alone, £13.6million of ISA and SIPP investments were made at collection points across the country.

Analysis of Fidelity FundsNetwork SIPP sales over the ISA season period (1st January – 5th April 2007) has shown that SIPPs could be starting to rival ISAs as a seasonal tax-efficient investment. New annual subscription limits introduced by A-Day are most likely to be the predominant drivers of this change, as well as investors becoming increasingly motivated by the tax advantages available to them.

Richard Wastcoat, UK Managing Director at Fidelity International, comments:“ISA sales on Fidelity FundsNetwork have increased by almost a third on last year, suggesting that the trend for investing online via fund supermarkets is becoming increasingly popular as investors become more and more familiar with the benefits, time and cost savings they can offer.

“What is particularly interesting this year is that along with the usual rush for that last minute ISA, we’ve also seen a rush for last minute SIPP investments. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as the annual limits brought in by A-Day and increased awareness of the tax advantages available. It’s also an encouraging sign that investors are making a step in the right direction to focus more on saving for their retirement.”

The best selling ISA sectors for the tax year 2006/2007 on FundsNetwork, based on bet sales, saw the UK Equity Income sector claiming the No. 1 spot. While last year the popularity of property funds propelled the Specialist sector to the top of the table, it has dropped down to 2nd place this year as investors took a more cautious stance. UK All Companies drops down the tables for the second year running, and Europe ex UK makes an appearance in the top 5.