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Several UK investment platforms will cut fees this year in a bid to attract customers ahead of an industry campaign and overhaul of financial advice, part of the government’s push to turn the UK into a “nation of investors”.
Interactive Investor, the second-largest UK investment platform by users, will cut monthly fees from February on a range of self-invested personal pension (Sipp), Isa and general investment products by between £4 and £16.
Neo-investment platform Freetrade will also axe all fees for its Sipp in late January. It generates revenue from other subscriptions, foreign exchange conversion fees and by retaining some interest on customer funds.
The £1.50 dealing charge for monthly customer investments will be scrapped by AJ Bell in the spring, and in the first three months of the new year it is expected to make a time-limited fee-free offer to customers of its app Dodl, targeted at investment beginners.
The changes come ahead of the government’s drive to get more Britons investing in the stock market and consolidating their pensions.
In April, the UK Retail Investment Campaign, backed by the London Stock Exchange, the Financial Conduct Authority, global asset managers and banks, will launch a scheme to bolster retirement savings, the UK economy and the stock market.
The scheme aims to give people the confidence to invest and forms part of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ broader ambition of encouraging roughly £600bn in excess savings to be invested productively in the UK economy.
The same month, the FCA will introduce a new type of more affordable, less formal financial advice called “targeted support”. The move will mean companies can encourage people sitting on too much cash to put some into shares for better returns.
Steps are also being taken to reduce pension pot fragmentation. From October 2026, pension schemes will be required to connect to dashboards allowing people to find all of their pots in one place. A further reform in the pension schemes bill, currently making its way through parliament, will require funds of up to £1,000 to be automatically merged by providers.
As part of Interactive Investor’s new core, plus and premium flat rate fee structure, holders of a Sipp and an Isa or general investment account (GIA) worth between £75,000 and £100,000 will benefit from the largest cut as their monthly fee drops from £21.99 to just £5.99.
Users are able to access a Sipp, stocks-and-shares Isa and trading account through each plan.
However, holders of just an Isa or a GIA worth up to £100,000 without a Sipp will have their fees increased by between £1 to £3.
The core option will cost £5.99 a month with an investment cap of £100,000, up from £50,000. Plus and premium will cost £14.99 and £39.99 per month, respectively, and have no investment limit. Interactive Investor has also increased the number of fee-free associated accounts for family members, to five for plus (up from two) and unlimited for premium, and both products offer free unlimited junior Isas.
Holly Mackay, founder and chief executive of Boring Money, said the revised flat fees covering Isas and Sipps would be “easier for consumers to understand and compare”.
“As some low-cost Isa providers throw down a price gauntlet, the incumbents need to respond with something competitive for their typical customers,” she added.
Freetrade’s basic monthly plan, which is free, will also give users access to a Sipp as well as mutual funds, gilts and ready-made portfolios.
Viktor Nebehaj, co-founder and chief executive of Freetrade, said: “There are countless reasons why Britons don’t invest: loss aversion, a lack of confidence and a sense that investing isn’t for ‘people like me’.
“We want to give everyday UK investors the confidence and opportunity to invest for less.”
AJ Bell said the UK had missed out on long-term investment benefits due to “an obsession” with cash.
“Making investing easy and low cost is absolutely critical if we are to bolster the ranks of the UK’s retail investor community,” it added.