Thursday 18th January 2007
Halifax has announced that the total number of child trust funds it has issued has passed the 250,000 mark.
The bank recently issued the milestone fund to new mum Lisa Chapman, coinciding with the governments week-long strategy to increase the uptake of child trust funds.
In total, almost 2.5 million child trust funds have now been taken by parents, according to economic secretary Ed Balls.
Paul Stanley of Halifax Financial Services said: "Were urging [parents] to act now and ensure their children benefit from their investment.
"At 18 years of age the amount of money in the account could help their children with education, learning to drive or even a house deposit."
Up to a quarter of parents are still missing out on government deposits of £250 by not opening child trust funds at all, the bank claimed.
Furthermore, it noted that with a monthly deposit of £100, child trust funds could yield £34,820 on maturation.
Halifax is offering to match the governments £250 initial deposit for one parent picked at random from all child trust funds opened with the bank before February 16th.
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