Savers driven into shares

SAVERS fed up with meagre returns on deposit accounts may be investing their cash in the stock market instead.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a jump in share ownership for individual UK investors.

In 2012, British investors owned 10.1pc of shares in firms domiciled here – worth £162bn – but by the end of last year, that had risen to 11.9pc (£206.2bn).

Financial research firm Moneyfacts attributed the rise to miserly savings rates since base rate was slashed to the emergency low of 0.5pc in March 2009.

The average rate on an easy access savings account is just 0.67pc, compared to 1.05pc in September 2012, and 3.65pc in September 2008. Charlotte Nelson from Moneyfacts said: ‘Savers have slowly watched savings rates on their accounts plummet to all-time lows. This has caused once-cautious savers to opt for riskier options to seek a return where they can.’

ONS figures also showed foreign investors have maintained their stranglehold on UK firms. Their ownership of UK-quoted shares increased marginally to 53.8pc in 2014 from 53.6pc in 2012.

In value terms this meant foreign ownership jumped from £862.4bn in 2012 to £928.6bn last year.

The change has been more pronounced over the longer term, with foreign investors owning 43.4pc, worth £760.9bn, in 2010.