Secure Trust Bank’s chief executive has called for stamp duty on shares to be abolished, describing the 0.5% levy as the single biggest obstacle to retail investor participation in London’s equity market. Ian Corfield made the remarks as the bank posted a £31.3 million pre-tax profit for the first half of the year, up 9.4% on a year earlier, excluding an £11.9 million gain from the sale of its vehicle finance portfolio.
Corfield, a former Labour donor who spent five months as the Treasury’s director of investment after Labour came to power in 2024, said the charge was ‘the biggest handbrake on this business’. He left the Treasury role following accusations of cronyism linked to his past donations.
Why Secure Trust Bank stamp duty criticism matters for the wider market
Corfield said the tax was ‘a blocker for retail investors’ and called boosting retail investment ‘key’ for UK wealth generation. Secure Trust Bank (STB) trades on London’s main market at around £300 million in market capitalisation, with its shares up roughly 19% over five years to 1,617.60p.
The scale of the tax burden he is targeting is substantial. HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics show that stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) alone raised £3,050 million in the 2024-to-2025 financial year, up 33% from £2,295 million the previous year. Combined with stamp duty on paper share transfers, total stamp taxes on shares reached £4,320 million in that year.
The current relief regime offers only partial cover. Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced a three-year SDRT exemption for shares in companies newly listed on a UK regulated market on or after 27 November 2025, according to a Freshfields analysis of the 2025 Budget measure. The exemption does not apply to trading in established listed companies such as Secure Trust Bank.
AIM-listed shares already carry an exemption from the standard 0.5% SDRT charge on electronic purchases, a relief designed to encourage investment in growth companies, Freshfields notes. Main market stocks do not benefit from that concession.
The boss of banking software firm Thought Machine previously told City AM that Reeves’ new-listing relief was not ‘big enough to really change anybody’s mind either for or against’ listing in London.
Government plans a replacement tax, but not until 2027
Pressure for reform is growing as the government’s own modernisation agenda moves slowly. The UK government intends to replace both stamp duty and SDRT with a single self-assessed 0.5% Securities Transfer Tax, with a technical consultation closing on 7 September 2026 and legislation targeted for 2027, according to the UK Tax Policy Map, which references an HMRC July 2026 policy paper. That timetable leaves the existing charge in place for at least the next Budget cycle.
New Chancellor John Healey, who succeeded Rachel Reeves after Andy Burnham moved into Downing Street, now faces calls from within the banking sector to move faster on retail liquidity.
The pressure cuts both ways. Campaigners have called for a £19 billion windfall tax on the biggest high street lenders, citing bumper first-half profits at NatWest, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC. Corfield said such a levy would be ‘inappropriate’, adding: ‘Ultimately interest rates go up and down, I suspect when we’re in a different interest rate environment, we won’t be talking about tax cuts for those banks.’
Secure Trust Bank does not pay the 3% banking surcharge on corporation tax, which applies to profits above £100 million, meaning the windfall tax debate is largely an external one for the firm.
Loan book grows as FCA motor finance provision looms
The bank’s loan book grew 4.9% in the first half to £3.5 billion, driven by its retail finance and business finance divisions. Its CET1 capital ratio rose to 14.3% from 12.9%, freeing up capacity for further distributions.
Secure Trust completed the first tranche of a £10 million share buyback during the period and raised its dividend 5.1% to 12.4p per share. As at 31 January 2026, the bank’s issued share capital stood at 19,099,513 ordinary shares of 40p each, according to an LSE regulatory filing.
A £21 million provision sits on the balance sheet related to the Financial Conduct Authority’s redress scheme covering undisclosed commission arrangements in the motor finance market. Progressive Equity Research reported in October 2025 that the bank subsequently raised its motor finance provision by a further £16 million following the FCA’s consultation paper on proposed redress, which the analyst described as ‘towards the extreme end of outcomes previously’ anticipated.
Corfield said the bank would ‘remain a simplified business focused on retail finance and business finance’, ruling out any strategic pivot: ‘You’re not going to see me standing up saying we’re making some leap into the unknown.’
The motor finance redress consultation outcome, expected before the FCA’s end-2025 deadline, is the clearest near-term binary for the stock.
