Younger investors are increasingly likely to buy financial products through technology companies, according to Calastone.
A majority of 62 per cent of millennials (25-40 year olds) surveyed by the funds network globally said they would favour buying investment products from tech companies.
The survey questioned 600 investors across the UK, US and Asia between March and April this year.
It found UK millennial investors were slightly less likely to prioritise investing through tech firms than their US counterparts, at 58 per cent vs 69 per cent.
Nevertheless UK investors preferred to do their investment management online, with only 17 per cent of those surveyed saying in-person management would be their preference.
Around 54 per cent of respondents said they liked to manage investments via websites with 34 per cent saying via an app and 31 per cent saying they preferred to do it via email.
Andrew Tomlinson, chief marketing officer at Calastone, said: “Our research shows that in-person interaction is now less important to UK investors than the rest of the world, emphasising the need for the industry to focus on providing accessible, intuitive and low cost digital investment products.”
Globally, when split by generation, Generation X (56-40 year olds) had the highest preference for in-person dealings, at 28 per cent.
Of older baby boomers (66-70 years old), 24 per cent said they would prefer in-person management, with 17 per cent of younger boomers (56-65 years old) agreeing. Around 24 per cent of millennials said the same.
Of all generations, managing their investments via websites was the clear preference, followed by apps and email.
The survey also showed the UK posted the highest increase globally in terms of its willingness to invest after the pandemic.
Calastone compared responses to its 2020 study, conducted in the early stages of the pandemic, and this year’s study, and found that 17 per cent more investors stated they would like to invest this year.
This optimism was being led by Generation X, with 57 per cent saying they were likely to invest in the future, compared with 48 per cent at the start of the pandemic.
Millennials saw an increase of 5 per cent in willingness to invest, rising from 59 per cent to 64 per cent, and baby boomers were in third place, rising from 37 per cent to 40 per cent.
Tomlinson said: “This increasing appetite to invest has been reflected in fund flows across our network over the past year, where we have continued to see record high inflows into equity funds.
"What’s interesting, and particularly encouraging, is that much of this positive sentiment is being driven by Generation X and millennial investors, who at the same time have seen significant shifts towards managing their investments digitally.”
Data from Calstone shows equity funds saw £6.2bn in net inflows in the second quarter this year, close to matching net flows for the whole of 2020.
The inflows compared with £3.9bn invested in the first quarter this year, and £7.7bn invested throughout 2020.
April saw the highest level of investment into equity funds when £3bn was added. Just over £2bn was invested in May and £1.1bn was added in June.
The 12 months to July saw £15bn of net inflows into UK funds overall, the highest since 2015.
sally.hickey@ft.com
