Adrian Boulding: It is up to financial services to stimulate savings

Amid much hand-wringing in recent months over UK consumers' apparent inability to set money aside for a rainy day, let alone retirement - crystallised by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report' showing a 75% collapse in the UK Household Savings Ratio from 6.7% in Q1 2014 to 1.7% in Q1 2017 - I was intrigued to read Royal London's assessment and reinterpretation of the ONS numbers, which countered the view UK consumers have stopped saving. The group's analysis looked ‘under the bonnet' and concluded a few key factors were influencing the apparent reduction in the ONS savings rati...