10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 21 August 2026

We look at the investments ii customers have been buying within their ISAs during the previous week. The data includes only real-time trades, not regular investing instructions, and combines the use of both existing funds and new money.

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Top 10 shares in ISAs

It’s all about the bank shares inthis list of most-bought stocks in ISAs on the ii platform. Last week, the FTSE 350 Bank sector was among the laggards, dropping 2.2%. Barclays (LSE:BARC) was worst of the high street banks, down 5.4%, followed byLloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) and NatWest Group (LSE:NWG), both losing 3.4% compared with a 0.6% gain for the FTSE 100.

However, investors have still been rewarded with sector gains of 19% so far in 2026 and 44% over the past year, although Barclays and NatWest have underperformed peers over the past eight months.

It seems investors are happy to pick up lenders that have traded largely sideways since a successful results season a month ago. Lloyds is back in the list again at number four, Barclays is close behind just a few weeks after topping the table, and NatWest sneaks in at nine after a week’s break from the top 10.

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But it was an AIM share that made the most dramatic entrance into our charts this week.

GCM Resources (LSE:GCM), which holds a mining lease and exploration licences covering the Phulbari coal and power project in north-west Bangladesh, had been trading at around 3.2p before finishing last week at 17p. It traded as high as 20p early Monday, the highest in almost six years.

Excitement built following a statement from Bangladesh’s finance minister that the government is currently finalising the country’s national energy mix. Coal-based power generation is under active consideration.

The four stocks making way for this week’s new entries are GSK, Glencore, British American Tobacco and Tesco.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Two dedicated technology funds have returned to our weekly bestseller list, with a couple of high yielders exiting.

Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) and the passive L&G Global Technology Index I Acc (B0CNH16) move back into our list in ninth and 10th place respectively.

Both are sitting on some very strong returns for 2026 even after a volatile few weeks, with PCT shares having returned almost 38% and the L&G fund 19%. The Polar Capital trust has benefited from its emerging market exposure in the last year.

In turn we see two popular income plays, Greencoat UK Wind and The Renewables Infrastructure Group, fall out of the list. A number of popular income funds, from City of London to Henderson Far East Income, sit just outside the top 10.

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Beyond that, fund buyers are once again staying pretty consistent with their choices. The top five list remains the same as last week

Once again, we see cash fund Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc (B8XYYQ8) topping the list, with a handful of global equity trackers in the list.

Two very different but strong-performing active funds, Artemis Global Income I Acc (B5ZX1M7) and Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT), also keep their place in the top 10.

Funds and trusts section written by Dave Baxter, senior fund content specialist at ii.