55% of UK stock market owned by overseas investors

[GrahamPlatt]

Interesting, given how there’s a swathe of comment on this board given over to diversifying out of the UK...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... d-the-city

The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that individual shareholders own just 13.5% of the London stock market. UK pension funds own 2.4% and insurance companies, which could be said to be investing on behalf of pension savers, account for a further 4%. Collectively, that is less than a fifth of the market. The largest slice is held by overseas investors, who own 55%. So what was true in 1981, when individuals owned 28.2% and overseas investors 4% of the London market, is no longer the case.

[odysseus2000]

Interesting, given how there’s a swathe of comment on this board given over to diversifying out of the UK...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... d-the-city

The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that individual shareholders own just 13.5% of the London stock market. UK pension funds own 2.4% and insurance companies, which could be said to be investing on behalf of pension savers, account for a further 4%. Collectively, that is less than a fifth of the market. The largest slice is held by overseas investors, who own 55%. So what was true in 1981, when individuals owned 28.2% and overseas investors 4% of the London market, is no longer the case.

Kind of amusing as it suggest foreigners have more faith in Brexit than residents.

Regards,

[GrahamPlatt]

Well, if you follow the link in the article, those ‘latest figures’ are from 2018. So yes, Brexit had been voted for.

[ursaminortaur]

Interesting, given how there’s a swathe of comment on this board given over to diversifying out of the UK...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... d-the-city

The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that individual shareholders own just 13.5% of the London stock market. UK pension funds own 2.4% and insurance companies, which could be said to be investing on behalf of pension savers, account for a further 4%. Collectively, that is less than a fifth of the market. The largest slice is held by overseas investors, who own 55%. So what was true in 1981, when individuals owned 28.2% and overseas investors 4% of the London market, is no longer the case.

Could it be that something changed in the 1980s - say a little thing called the Big Bang which boosted London as an International market ?

[scrumpyjack]

I very much doubt the figures accurately reflect the underlying reality. For example most ETFs are resident in Ireland, so any holdings in for example the Vanguard or Ishares ETF FTSE trackers that I and other UK investors own, would be logged as holdings by foreign investors!

[Lootman]

I very much doubt the figures accurately reflect the underlying reality. For example most ETFs are resident in Ireland, so any holdings in for example the Vanguard or Ishares ETF FTSE trackers that I and other UK investors own, would be logged as holdings by foreign investors!

True but those Irish ETFs are marketed all over Europe so it is hard to know what percentage of them is owned by British investors. A clue might be the amount of the sterling share classes that are in existence since they presumably would only be wanted only by people in the sterling zone.

[Dod101]

And that 13.5% said to be held by individual investors is also reckoned to be an understatement because so many individual shareholdings are now held on platforms that it must be almost impossible to do more than guess at the actual percentage. I would take all of these figures with a pinch of salt.

Dod

[SalvorHardin]

And that 13.5% said to be held by individual investors is also reckoned to be an understatement because so many individual shareholdings are now held on platforms that it must be almost impossible to do more than guess at the actual percentage. I would take all of these figures with a pinch of salt.

Indeed. Here's an example as to how difficult it is to establish ownership by nationality.

I own approximately 1/14,000th of Juventus. Yes, Juve, the super famous Italian football club. John Charles, Alessandro del Piero, Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, etc. Listed in Milan.

Some of these shares are held via a UK broker that is owned by an American company, others via a Canadian bank whilst a few are certificated and I hope to be buried with them. Good luck in allocating these by nationality!

Fino Alla Fine! Aka "Fergie Time"

[scrumpyjack]

I think this is the document that the Grauniad is basing its report on dated 14 January!!

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/investme ... hares/2018

It seems they did try to establish ultimate beneficial ownership based on sampling and using Equiniti and other firms.
There is virtually nothing on how they were able to establish beneficial ownership though they do say at one point

"The beneficial owners must be established through the Companies Act 2006 Section 793 request, because the electronic register does not give a complete breakdown of beneficial ownership."

It does not give one confidence that the results are accurate but it may not have been quite as ill thought out as it first appeared!