NEWS
Goldblatt: potential for leads
Wealth website
encourages
IFA registration
Financial advisers, including
offshore specialists, are
being invited to list their
details on a new wealth
management website.
The website, www.rubii.
co.uk, will enable consumers
to shop for financial
advisers by location, mode
of payment for services and
other categories, including
specialising in such areas
as expat and non-domicile
strategies, according to
Toby Goldblatt, the website’s
founder.
The site will go live in
January, and is now signing
up IFAs. Registration is
free for intermediaries but
they will be charged a fee,
ranging from £35 to £50,
for varying levels of contact
arranged with prospective
clients. The website
will enable consumers to
rank advisers and comment
on the quality of their
service and advice.
Goldblatt said: “Highly
ranked advisers will receive
a prominent position on
the site, so for those that
provide a good service the
potential for leads will be
significant.”
Initially the website will
target UK consumers, but
he added that he is hoping
to develop an offshore clientele
in the future.
8
Advisers to build bespoke products
in new service from Barclays Capital
BY DANIEL JUDGE
Barclays Capital has
unveiled a new service
allowing advisers to design
their own structured products
– underwritten by the
bank – for use within offshore
bonds.
The firm, the investment
banking arm of
Barclays Bank, said the
facility, Bespoke Solutions
for Offshore Bonds, gives
intermediaries the ability
to select underlying equity
indices, individual or groups
of stocks, commodities or
commodity indices as a
base for the investments.
Baskets of multiple assets
can underlie the products,
though fixed income is
excluded from the service.
Advisers can select whether
the product will provide
growth or income and its
maturity date. The products
will all be capital guaranteed
if held to maturity.
Barclays also highlighted
its use as a sales
driver for offshore life
company representatives
Whittaker departs New Star as manager
reshuffle follows merger of equity funds
New Star’s chief investment
officer, Stephen Whittaker,
has left the firm following
moves to improve equity
fund performance that see
several fund mergers and
a reshuffling of manager
responsibilities.
It comes as an increasingly
embattled New Star
suspended dealing in its
International Property
Fund as it was unable to
meet redemption requests.
Trevor Green, manager
of the UK portion of the
ManagedDistributionFund,
is to take over Whittaker’s
UK Growth Fund. A new
CIO is being recruited.
Among a raft of changes
to the UK range is the merging
of the Monthly Income
Unit Trust with Green’s
Managed Distribution
Fund; and Jamie Allsop’s
UK Hidden Value Fund
being merged with Tim
Steer’s UK Alpha Fund.
New Star’s merged funds underperform
-10
-20
% -30
-40
-50
0
-60
Nov ’07 Jan ’08
Source: Lipper
Allsop remains as manager
of the Heart of Africa
Fund. European Leaders,
managed by Richard Lewis,
will be merged with the
European Value Fund
under the stewardship of
Nick Sheridan.
The changes are an
attempt to address ailing
fund performance and stop
outflows of cash, which
INTERNATIONAL ADVISER [www.international-adviser.com] DECEMBER 2008
when outlining the range
of tools and services they
can offer through under-
lying investments.
David Macdonald, director
at Barclays Capital, said:
“The current turbulence
within global financial markets
makes the ability to
create customised structured
products, with capital
protection, extremely valuable.
This avoids the long
lead time that can exist
between initial idea generation
and product issue, by
which time market condi-
FTSE All-Share New Star European
Leaders Ret Acc
New Star Hidden Value A
Mar
New Star UK Growth Ret
May
Jul
has led to serious problems
for the company. A
drop in revenues forced
the fund manager to renegotiate
banking covenants
amid concern it was getting
increasingly close to failing
to make debt payments.
Measures designed to
save £20m a year include
sub-letting surplus premises
and job losses.
Sep
Nov
tions may no longer be as
favourable or attractive.”
He added advisers would
be able to tailor products to
the needs of clients, factoring
in their own asset allocation
and market views.
The products are structured
as deposits and the
minimum amount for each
will be £1m, although this
can come through multiple
clients. The service is available
in multiple currencies
and through most Dublin,
Isle of Man and Channel
Islands life companies.
HMRC reveals next
stage of offshore
taxation clampdown
HM Revenue & Customs
(HMRC) has released more
details of its crackdown on
tax evasion through offshore
banks.
It will write to 300 banks
and building societies next
year requesting the names
of UK resident customers
with offshore accounts.
These individuals will then
be asked to submit account
details, and any tax owed,
plus interest, will be calculated
and demanded.
Those who do not come
forward face potential
prosecution and fines, in
addition to repayment of
tax. Fines are likely to be
capped at 20% to 30% of
the tax owed, according
to reports.
International Adviser
reported last month that the
second phase of HMRC’s
Offshore Disclosure Facility
(ODF) had targeted an
initial 25 banks.
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.