Scrapping stamp duty on UK shares and strengthening shareholder rights are two of six initiatives Aberdeen Investments has suggested the UK government should look at to bolster the UK market.
In its report ‘Beyond Tell Sid: How Asia Built a New Generation of Investors’, the firm noted Asian countries that have already implemented changes are reaping the rewards, meaning there is precedent for action.
Peter Branner, chief investment officer at Aberdeen Investments, said: “Several measures adopted across Asia offer food for thought for policymakers in Britain – from scrapping stamp duty, improving corporate governance and strengthening shareholder rights.
“As an asset manager and investment platform provider, we also recognise our responsibility. Getting the UK investing is a key societal challenge, and we intend to be part of the solution.”
Below, the firm outlines the six main changes to get Britain investing.
Scrap stamp duty on UK shares
Stamp duty is the potentially the tax most cited as getting in the way of UK-based investments and could be ripe for reform. It made the headlines recently as investors speculated whether it will be part of next month’s Budget under Andy Burnham.
The tax raises the cost of buying UK-listed shares, reducing trading volumes and liquidity and feeding through into weaker valuations and a higher cost of capital for companies.
“Scrapping stamp duty on UK shares and investment trusts would be the cleanest, boldest move we could make to unlock growth, improve valuations and reverse the drift of capital offshore,” said Branner.
South Korea would be the model to look at. It does not levy a traditional stamp duty on share purchases, although it does apply a Securities Transaction Tax that has been reduced to close to zero.
China halved its stamp duty on share trades in 2023 to 0.05%, having last cut it in 2008, while Hong Kong lowered its rate from 0.13% to 0.1% the same year – moves the report said were designed to encourage retail participation and boost domestic market liquidity.
Market reforms
Governance reform, stronger shareholder rights and clearer IPO rules have been central to Asia's progress. A well-known case is Japan, with the Tokyo Stock Exchange now requiring companies trading below a price-to-book ratio of 1.0x to explain how they would improve capital efficiency.
Since the reform was introduced, share buybacks hit record levels in 2023 and the Nikkei 225 delivered a total return of 92.9% over the three years to 2025, against 33.3% for the FTSE 100, according to Bloomberg data cited in the report.
For Alex Smith, head of equities investment specialists for emerging markets and Asia at Aberdeen, what has helped institutional and overseas investors gain confidence in capital markets in Asian countries has also helped domestic retail investors.
“The UK has been pursuing its own reform agenda, with encouraging progress on listing rules and market structure,” he said. “But the lesson from Asia is that market reform is an ongoing commitment, and one which can have benefits for all types of investors.”
Strengthen shareholder rights for retail investors
A successful investing culture requires more than getting people to buy shares; it also means making sure they feel connected to the companies they own, Aberdeen said.
UK retail investors typically hold shares through platforms and nominee accounts, which said can make it harder to receive company communications or exercise voting rights than for institutional investors. The UK's Digitisation Taskforce has proposed a Bill of Shareholder Rights to combat this.
“Ownership should come with clear rights and straightforward opportunities to participate,” the report read, helping to “strengthen trust and engagement across the investment ecosystem”.
Take a long-term approach to financial literacy
South Korea, whose financial literacy scores sit well above the OECD average, has introduced a dedicated schools subject called Finance and Economic Life.
But, according to Aberdeen head of sustainability Kristina Church, who contributed the report's literacy section, “they haven't stopped there”.
“Financial skills are also built into everyday subjects, backed up by real-world sessions on saving, borrowing and investing – often delivered by industry experts, not just textbooks,” she said.
The UK's Financial Inclusion Strategy, which currently routes financial education through citizenship studies, should go further, she said, and be embedded across subjects including maths and business studies, with pensions and investment added to the curriculum by 2028.
Stop overcomplicating investing
South Korea's approach was also held up as a model for simplicity.
Individual investors account for an estimated 60-70% of the country's annual trading activity, a level of engagement Church attributed partly to policy that has avoided piling on complexity: putting financial education on a statutory footing, training teachers nationally and ensuring access extends beyond big cities.
Aberdeen contrasted this with the UK's approach of nudges and incentives layered onto an existing system.
Keep talking about the benefits and risks of long-term investing
South Korea’s model shouldn't be followed too closely, the report stressed.
The country’s rise in retail participation was followed by a sharp rally in 2025 and early 2026 and a subsequent correction – a reminder that retail participation alone is not the end goal, said Xavier Meyer, chief executive of Aberdeen Investments.
“Recent market volatility over the summer in South Korea is a reminder that building an investing culture must go hand in hand with diversification, product suitability and market resilience, particularly where investor behaviour is concentrated in a narrow part of the market or geared through more speculative products”.