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Can I have 2 ISA accounts with different providers in the UK

ISA accounts can also be known as Stocks and Shares ISAs. They are a tax-efficient way to grow your money. 

Tax-free growth is available for everyone who invests their savings into an ISA, depending on your deposit amount and the type of account you open. 

Due to having stocks and shares, ISA has become trendy in recent years.

Legislation

According to the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), only one stock and shares ISA may be held in the United Kingdom, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), owing to Trading Restrictions.

It means that each person in the UK is only allowed to have one stock and shares ISA with one provider per tax year.

It doesn’t mean; however, you cannot hold multiple stocks and shares ISAs with different providers per tax year. 

BUT they must both be cash-based holdings rather than investment accounts. For example, you could open two separate stocks and shares ISAs with two separate providers but place cash in both of these accounts.

 It will then stay untouched until either provider matures or you need access to your money at a later date when it has matured by this time. 

You cannot have an investment account within your UK based stock and shares ISA, i.e., this means that if you were to open UK stocks and shares ISA, you would not be able to transfer that money into an investment account abroad.

Investment account 

As mentioned above, UK legislation states that UK residents are only allowed one UK based stock and shares ISAs with one UK service provider per tax year. 

Suppose the UK resident wanted to invest some or all of their money into an investment account (with HSBC) outside of the UK. 

They then must open separate cash-based UK stocks and shares ISA with someone else in the UK before opening up this new investment account abroad. 

Due to financial regulations that state that a person can not hold more than one investment account holding any UK-based stock and shares ISA.

Additional UK stocks and shares ISA

Suppose the UK resident wants to open up a new UK based stocks and shares ISA with a UK service provider. 

In that case, they must ensure that this is not an investment account as mentioned above, but instead another cash-based account as you are still limited to one UK based stocks and shares ISA per tax year.

Saving account

UK residents can hold more than one savings account with different providers, provided these accounts do not invest in investment products such as shares or bonds etc. 

It means that you can have multiple UK stocks and shares ISAs alongside your savings accounts within the same UK-based financial institution. 

The only issue is that UK residents can only have one UK based stock and shares ISA with one UK provider per tax year.

Host

The hosting service should also be considered when opening UK stocks and shares ISA with a UK provider. 

The financial regulator (FCA) stipulates that no more than one cash-based UK stock and shares ISA can be held in total at any one time. 

For example, if you want to open up another UK stock and shares account, this should not come from an institution that already hosts your other current UK stock and shares account. 

In conclusion

There’s not a thing stopping you from having both accounts within the same holding company or using separate companies for each UK based account that you hold.

Suppose you are a UK resident who has already opened up UK stocks and shares ISA with one UK provider but would now like to open up another UK based account with another UK financial institution. 

In that case, you should do so without any issues or problems. 

The only issue is that you may not hold more than one UK based stock and shares ISAs ISAs with the same UK service provider per tax year, as this is your maximum allowance under UK legislation.
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