Cash CTFs proving popular

Research from the Building Societies Association shows that where the option is available to them, parents are generally opting to take out a cash Chi

09:38 22 July 2005

Research from the Building Societies Association shows that where the option is available to them, parents are generally opting to take out a cash Child Trust Fund, rather than a stakeholder CTF.

According to the BSA, in June 2005, over 50,000 CTF accounts were opened at the eight providers which offer both cash and stakeholder options. Of these accounts, more than 30,000 were cash funds. Around 12 million was entered in CTFs in June.

Since the government's pioneering scheme was launched, over 270,000 accounts have been opened, 70 per cent of which were cash based funds.

Brian Morris from the BSA said: "It is still early days, but the BSA's second set of figures show that when given the choice, most parents are choosing cash CTF's for their children.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that many parents have still not decided where to put their child's voucher. We believe that parents should have the choice between cash and equity investments and building societies are helping give them that choice."