Barclays’ study identifies key recommendations for the EU’s Savings and Investment Union

• Bank considers the UK’s nearly 40 years of experience with tax-advantaged investment accounts.
• Report follows the publication of the European Commission’s Blueprint for European Savings and Investment Accounts, and provides insights for policymakers considering how to implement a new structure and increase participation.
• Findings and recommendations include the role of government-led promotion, the importance of simplicity to attract account operators, and the need to avoid frequent changes to the regime.

Barclays has published an in-depth policy report, Mobilising Retail Savings for Deeper Capital Markets: UK Insights for the EU’s Savings and Investment Union, examining the United Kingdom’s almost four-decade experience with tax-advantaged investment accounts. The report aims to inform the European Commission and Member States as they consider new Savings and Investment Accounts (SIAs) as part of the EU’s plan to channel household savings into productive investment, enhancing competitiveness, boosting the capital markets and promoting broader growth across the bloc.

The need for rapid progress in this area was identified by Mario Draghi in his report ‘The Future of European Competitiveness’,¹ in which he highlighted financing as one of the three building blocks the EU’s new industrial strategy needed to rest on and noted the importance of better channelling high household savings in the EU towards productive investment. The European Commission followed this with their Blueprint for European Savings and Investment Accounts in September 2025, which set out a number of common principles for Member States to consider.²

The UK’s approach has mobilised significant retail investment and by the end of 2023, Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) had a market value of over £430 billion.³ This paper analyses the impact of successive policy choices on account uptake, investor behaviour, and capital mobilisation.

By mapping policy changes against the number of investment accounts opened and the total amount subscribed each year Barclays was able to assess their impact on savers and capital markets and make five recommendations for policymakers in the EU:

1. Savings and Investment Accounts (SIAs) should be introduced alongside other policy measures aimed at encouraging retail savers to become investors, such as a mass retail investing campaign.
2. The policy design of SIAs should take into account the likely behaviour of account operators and how they will compete to market the accounts.
3. The existing product market for collective investments should be carefully considered and ensure a wide range of existing products qualify for inclusion in the SIAs.
4. The regime should be designed to operate regardless of market conditions.
5. Policymakers should use clear public messaging and give individuals certainty in how they make long term investment decisions by avoiding making changes to the regime on a frequent basis.

Francesco Ceccato, Barclays Europe CEO, said: “Getting the Savings and Investment Union right is central to the overall economic prospects for the EU over the coming decades. For too long, far too many of our individual citizens’ savings have been languishing in unproductive places. If policymakers can create the right environment to change this, we can boost economic activity, employment and growth, and help people live more prosperous lives. We’re not suggesting policymakers copy wholesale the UK approach, but it does make sense to look at their experience and consider how we can achieve the necessary culture shift in the EU to increase investment. We hope with this paper we’ve made a small contribution that will help inform the decisions facing policymakers today.”

Data from the UK may also provide some reassurance to policymakers regarding the impact of other policy initiatives on levels of retail investment. Most notably, the UK’s introduction of auto-enrolment for defined contribution pensions from 2012 did not reduce investment account subscriptions, suggesting both policy initiatives can be implemented effectively in parallel.


¹Draghi, M, The future of European competitiveness, September 2024
²European Commission, Recommendation on Increasing the Availability of Savings and Investment Accounts, March 2025
³HM Revenue & Customs, Annual savings statistics, 2024


Barclays’ Group Policy Development team creates public policy thought leadership content on behalf of Barclays. Our work draws on the bank’s expertise, data and insights, and is intended to inform the design and application of public policy solutions in response to pressing economic and societal challenges. The report is general in nature and provided for information/educational purposes only.