Broad support for UK bank levy from financial services practioners, poll shows

News - Banking

Written by Ray Clancy

Wednesday, 11 August 2010 09:28

Seven out of ten financial services practioners in the UK support the new bank levy, a survey has found.

The levy on bank balance sheets, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the emergency Budget, is expected to raise more than £8 billion over four years and seem to be popular, the survey by the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment shows.

Some 28% strongly supported the levy and a further 42%, on balance, backed it. Some 15% were strongly against the levy and the same proportion, on balance, opposed it.

The Chancellor claims it is ‘fair and right’ that banks should pay a levy as the financial crisis began in the financial sector. ‘There is a strong argument for increasing the levy, regardless of whether a bank received Government funding, as they all indirectly benefited from the billions of pounds poured into the system,’ said one respondent.

Meanwhile, separate research shows that some 62% of IFAs place the majority of their investment and pension business through platforms, research reveals.

Adviser research by independent financial research company Defaqto 38% of IFAs said they would put between 76 and 100% of investment and pensions business through platforms. Some 24% said they would put 51 to 75% through in the same way and 13.5% said 31 to 50% of such business would be via platforms.

‘Platforms are becoming the dominant vehicle for investment and pension business for advisers. We expect the usage of platforms to increase steadily over the next two years as advisers consider how to implement Retail Distribution Review policy by the end of 2012,’ said Fraser Donaldson, insight analyst for Funds at Defaqto.