15 July 2025
If you are covering the various announcements about retail investing ahead of the Mansion House speech today, please see the following comment from Steven Levin, CEO of Quilter:
The Chancellor’s Mansion House reforms aim to deliver a financial system that helps working people grow their savings, channels more capital into UK businesses, and ensures financial services play a leading role in driving economic growth. These are all valiant aims that signal a welcome shift toward long-term, productive investment becoming a default rather than a specialist activity.
The push to encourage investment through nudges and a national campaign reflects a clear intent to reshape behaviour at scale. The government is laying the groundwork for more inclusive financial participation.
The planned rollout of targeted support by ISA season 2026 could help millions who are willing to invest and currently falling into the advice gap. Giving firms the ability to offer more tailored guidance while maintaining appropriate safeguards has the potential to improve outcomes, particularly around pensions and first-time investing.
However, the devil is in the detail. For firms to follow up meaningfully with consumers, clarity on marketing permissions is essential. Current restrictions under PECR can make this difficult unless customers have proactively opted in. It’s encouraging that the government reiterated this issue in its targeted support policy statement today, addressing this potential barrier is a crucial step toward making the reforms effective in practice.
While behaviour won’t shift overnight, success will depend not just on unlocking capital but on building lasting confidence. That means ensuring consumers have access to clear, trustworthy support at every stage of their financial journey. Improving financial education in schools should also be a long-term priority to help nurture a UK investment culture. It could be instrumental in helping the next generation grow up with the confidence and knowledge to become the investors of tomorrow.
