Investments News

Nationwide: Government still needs to promote CTFs - 08/05/2007

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More must be done to promote the benefits of child trust fund (CTF) accounts, financial services provider Nationwide has claimed.

Commenting on the two-year anniversary of CTFs, the firm claims that 25 per cent of vouchers are not invested within the first 12 months of being issued, which means that children miss out on a year's worth of interest payments.

"The government needs to do more to encourage parents to invest their child's voucher as soon as possible," urged Nationwide divisional director of mortgages and savings Matthew Carter.

He suggested that this must be done before the expiry period "otherwise, through no fault of their own, it is the children who are losing out on interest or investment growth."

"Parents need to recognise the urgency in presenting their child's voucher for investment to ensure their children receive the full 18 year's worth of interest or investment growth that they are entitled to and not a year less," Mr Carter continued.

He concluded that the government needs to get "a quarter of parents on side" when it comes to CTFs.

The Building Societies Association recently revealed that 49,000 CTFs were opened in the first three months of 2007.

© Adfero

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