UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt is reportedly planning to introduce sweeping proposals to reform the Individual Savings Accounts regime, in a bid to boost share ownership and economic growth.

According to a report by the FT, Hunt is set to unveil an ISA reform roadmap in his Autumn Statement on Wednesday (22 November), which will outline plans to change the rules around fractional shares and long-term asset funds.

Senior officials told the newspaper that the chancellor will also introduce proposals to launch an online platform that will allow savers to pay into multiple accounts every year, as opposed to just being able to only pay into one of each type of ISA.

Chancellor Hunt weighs allowing ISAs to hold fractional shares - reports

According to two people familiar with the matter, a comprehensive consultation into ISA reforms is set to accompany the chancellor's proposals in the Autumn Statement. 

The reforms are anticipated to moderate the Treasury's earlier ambitions, including the postponement until next year of plans for a dedicated UK equities allowance, according to the officials.

As reported by Bloomberg on Friday (17 November), Hunt is also considering allowing ISAs to hold fractional shares.

HMRC's existing policy prevents ISAs from holding less than a full share of a stock, which can require investors to sell their stakes and incur taxes on the gains.

Today's FT said that the Treasury aims to streamline the ISA regime ahead of raising the tax-free savings allowance from £20,000. 

Financial services CEOs call for ISA 'reform' at Autumn Statement

Earlier this month, AJ Bell's head of retirement policy, Tom Selby, said it was "ridiculous" that investors are "currently faced with a choice of six types of ISA when deciding where to invest for the future, with different rules and allowances further clouding the picture".

"The rule preventing ISA savers subscribing to more than one version of each type of ISA never made much sense," he said. "Ditching this rule removes one of the key blockers to more fundamental reform and would be an extremely welcome step in the right direction."

Last week, a group of fund management and financial services bosses wrote an open letter to the chancellor calling for an ISA reform at the Autumn Statement.

The group, which included signatories such as John Ions, CEO at Liontrust and Mike O'Shea, CEO of Premier Miton Investors, said reforming ISAs would put the "£68bn a year invested into ISAs to work on behalf of the UK economy".

The Treasury has been contacted for comment.