People putting more in tax-free savings accounts

Sales of the tax-free individual savings account (ISA) made a small comeback in October.

15:00 01 December 2004

Sales of the tax-free individual savings account (ISA) made a small comeback in October compared with the previous month, but are still down 83 per cent on the previous year, according to new statistics.

Figures revealed by the Investment Management Association show that whilst net ISA sales did climb to 37.4 million from net ISA withdrawals of 23.5 million in September, they are still down substantially on the 221.6 million raised in October 2003.

IMA stats state net retail sales also rose 35 per cent on September from 272 million to 366.7 million but are still down over a third from 559.3m in October 2003.

Gross retail sales also rose one per cent from 256.2 billion to 260.2 billion, while gross ISA funds stood at 35.6 billion compared with 35.3billion.