The fund management industry must drop “unnecessary charges”, a wealth firm says, because many savers are being scared away from investing by high costs.

MoneyFarm made the call as it said the sector needs to provide savers with competitively priced and simple investment products.

A survey of 761 savings / ISA account holders carried out by Atomik Research on behalf of MoneyFarm in April showed 33% of savers are being put off investing by the high costs involved.

Paolo Galvani, chairman and co-founder of MoneyFarm, said: “With the technology available to us today, cost and complexity should no longer be a concern when it comes to investing.”

“There is no reason why the use of apps and smart phones cannot deliver savers a simple and intuitive way to invest that delivers a high quality wealth management product without the unnecessary fees eating so dramatically into returns.”

“Investing, especially for the first time, can be daunting but the Financial Services sector is not making it any easier for savers to take this important step.”

MoneyFarm’s survey also found 23% were put off by the complexity of current investment products.

Mr Galvani said: “Cost and complexity are two of the major factors putting savers off investing – however these are both elements of the investment process that can actually be controlled.”

“It is up to the Financial Services sector to provide savers with competitively priced and simple investment products which allow them to feel confident and safe in their financial decisions.”

He said: “If savers fail to invest their funds, these are likely to deplete over time. This can have very serious repercussions later in life when it comes to buying a home, having children or retiring.

“As inflation continues to rise and interest rates remain low, money sitting in a cash or low interest savings account is actually falling in value. In order to avoid this happening, money needs to be invested.”

“It is the industry’s duty to ensure the vehicles that enable investment are consumer-friendly in order to ensure this happens.”

A recent study by MoneyFarm found that that UK cash savings (£167 billion) are providing such poor levels of interest that they will fall in value over the next year by £4.1 billion as inflation continues outpaces interest returns. This translates to a loss of £340 for every £100,000 kept in a cash savings account – as opposed to an increase in value from cash savings that savers expect – the company said.