Majority of UK shares held overseas

Too tired to dig into this one tonight, will try tomorrow, so here's the ONS blurb

Key Points

• The Ownership of UK Quoted Shares Bulletin provides estimates of ordinary shares holdings in quoted companies in the UK by sector of beneficial ownership (the beneficial owner is the underlying owner, the person or body who receives the benefits of holding the shares, for example income through dividends. See Annex A for a more detailed discussion).
• At the end of 2012, the UK stock market was valued at £1,756.3 billion.
• Rest of the world investors continue to hold significantly more shares (in terms of value) than any other sector, with the gap between rest of the world ownership and the next highest (individuals) widening in 2012. Rest of the world ownership stood at an estimated 53.2% of the value of the UK stock market at the end of 2012, up from 30.7% in 1998 and 43.4% in 2010.
• UK individuals owned an estimated 10.7% by value at the end of 2012, picking up slightly from the record low in 2010 and halting the downward trend seen in recent years.
• Unit trusts held an estimated 9.6% by value at the end of 2012, continuing the strong growth seen in recent years
• Other financial institutions held an estimated 6.6% by value at the end of 2012, significantly down on the levels in 2010, following strong growth in earlier years.
• Insurance companies held an estimated 6.2% by value at the end of 2012, continuing the fall seen in recent years.
• Pension funds held an estimated 4.7% by value at the end of 2012, down from 5.6% in 2010, and significantly lower than the levels seen in recent years.
• Shares are increasingly held in multiple-ownership pooled accounts, where the beneficial owner is unknown. These accounted for an estimated 59.4% of the total holdings by value at the end of 2012, up from 44.9% at the end of 2010. Multiple ownership pooled accounts have been allocated to sectors using further analysis of share registers, updating the analysis conducted for the 2010 results.
• This Bulletin incorporates some revisions to the 2010 data published in February 2012.