The number of newly opened stocks and shares ISA policies fell 21% year-on-year in the three months to December 2022, figures reported by Scottish Friendly have indicated.

According to the financial mutual, sales leading up to Christmas were significantly lower than the previous year and the value of these new policies among the firm’s UK-wide customer base fell to a record low.

New policy values were down 13% between the final quarter of 2021 and Q4 last year, reaching their lowest level on record, since Scottish Friendly began recording the data in Q1 2019.

Scottish Friendly suggested this drop in value is being driven by a “significant decline” in investment from male customers. New policy values among men are 41% lower in Q4 2022 than they were in Q1 2019, whereas among women they are up 5% over the same period.

In contrast to sales of adult stocks and shares ISA policies, Junior ISA (JISA) policy sales remained strong in the final three months of last year, up 42% on Q4 2022.

However, Scottish Friendly said the value of its new JISA policies has been trending downwards over the past year. Between Q4 2021 and the final quarter of 2022, values dropped 51% to reach their lowest level since Q1 2019.

Savings specialist at Scottish Friendly, Kevin Brown, said: “The latest findings suggest that households paired-back their savings and investments in the run-up to Christmas, as they focused on providing for their family over the festive period.

“At this time of year, it’s not unusual to see a drop-off in investment activity. However, there has been a relatively big decline compared with the previous year.

“It is difficult to know what 2023 has in store for households and their finances, but it is likely that the first six months of the year will present some significant challenges.

“Inflation and the cost of living remains a factor impacting people’s ability to save in the short-term, but as inflation begins to come down over 2023 then disposable incomes should hopefully come under a little less pressure. At that point we expect people to turn from focusing on meeting short-term challenges to looking towards the longer-term with their money.”

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