Disappointing that it seems difficult to actually sign up for – "real-time view" hidden behind layers of legalese and licensing, although it's pleasing to see the fees are effectively nothing for individuals or small firms. They're not exactly in the SaaS-era of live demos or trivial sign-ups for immediate access, are they?
Why do we insist on actually useful interfaces into the economy and banking system being hidden behind such bureaucratic complexity? It's like the Open Banking gift that keeps on giving – if it were truly "Open", I'd have an API I could actually use to talk to all of my banks, rather than what feels like a closed shop (certainly for the average retail individual who just wants a feed from their bank).
There’s also a lot of bureaucracy involved in participating in the gilt market directly, rather than using an intermediary.
https://www.dmo.gov.uk/investor-information/retail-investors...
I don’t think the Treasury really wants to deal with amateurs.
No, but you can hold them through the standard range of intermediaries and still get the tax advantage.
NS&I offer a range of retail products - https://www.nsandi.com/guaranteed-returns is a good option but does NOT come with the tax exemption.
the tax exemptions make it very attractive place to hold cash versus bank accounts - if your a UK citizen google (or AI) - low coupon gilt investing.
Eh, for most people it's simpler to just use a cash ISA which can provide almost the same rates. Most people don't want or need to carry a huge cash float as opposed to other kinds of investment.
That only works if the capital is already in an ISA or you want to invest less than £20k (soon to be 12k) though. It is common to use gilts to build a gilt ladder to have some level of guaranteed income for older/retired people. This allows you to build your own cheap annuity.
Well, yes, but after maximizing an ISA that's still an option. Also the government is clamping down on cash ISA.
I think they're clamping down on cash held in Stocks and Shares ISAs, not Cash ISAs.
As the government wants to encourage people to be invested and not hold cash, from '27 you'll only be able to add 12k in Cash ISA. They are planning to also change the limit on cash held on S&S ISAs to avoid an easy workaround for this limit
Ah I see, I wasn't aware of the Cash ISA change too, thanks.
That's probably true
This is the frustrating pattern with a lot of "open" financial infrastructure