Hull: ‘business as usual’
Santander buys
A&L, leaving
offshore arm
in some doubt
BY HELEN BURGGRAF
The future of Alliance &
Leicester International’s offshore
banking operation on
the Isle of Man was uncertain
late last month after
Banco Santander agreed a
deal to buy ALIL’s parent,
Alliance & Leicester.
The Spanish banking
giant, which bought
A&L rival Abbey in 2004,
already has another established
offshore business,
based in Jersey, which
it has incorporated into
its newly formed Global
Private Banking division.
Its Jersey subsidiary,
Abbey International, supports
a global client base
through its 128-employee
Jersey facility. After buying
Abbey, Santander shut
its Isle of Man branch,
leaving the island without
any Santander-backed
presence.
ALIL employs about 50
people, has some £2bn
on deposit and more than
£172m in share capital and
reserves. Like Abbey, it has
been building up online
trade. From nothing two
years ago, the internet now
accounts for about 35% of
its business.
A&L shareholders are
due to vote on the £1.2bn
recommended all-share
offer in late September. ALIL
managing director Simon
Hull declined to speculate
on what may or may not
happen. He said: “Until it is
voted on, it is business as
usual for us here, really.”
Invesco looks to move fund
managers into Middle East
BY DANIEL JUDGE
Invesco Perpetual is looking
at establishing an
investment management
function in the Middle East
on the back of regional
products launches for the
Gulf and North Africa.
The fund manager currently
has a sales office in
FUND FACTS
Name: Invesco Asia Real Estate
Securities Fund
Domicile: Luxembourg
Base currency: $
Warning against haste in reclaiming Spanish IHT
Accountants have warned
UK residents to consider a
number of factors before
seeking to reclaim capital
gains tax (CGT) from the
Spanish government.
Expatriates and non-residents
were overcharged
tax by 20% when they
sold Spanish properties
between June 2004 and
December 2006.
George Bull, head of tax
at Baker Tilly, said UK taxpayers
can offset Spanish
Dubai-based IFA firm
Nexus Insurance Brokers is
planning to expand in the
six-state Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) region.
It is also embarking on
a recruitment drive aimed
at doubling, from 30 to 60,
the number of employees
in its Bahrain operation.
Sales and marketing
director Nigel Watson
declined to say which
countries Nexus is looking
to expand into, but said:
“Expansion into other GCC
states is an important part
of our growth, and we are
considering a number of
Dubai but no local portfolio
managers.
Nick Tolchard, managing
director of Invesco’s
international development
division, said a natural step
could be to run local products
in the region or even
domicile funds there.
“If we launched a Middle
East product we would
have to ask, ‘Do we set up
our own investment centre
to do that?”’ he said.
He also revealed Invesco
is targeting more offshore
trust business.
■ Invesco has also released
details of its Asia Real Estate
tax against UK CGT.
“Spain deducted 35%
but UK rates could vary
between 0% and 40%,”
said Bull.
“So some people will
find little benefit in reclaiming
the 20% excess Spanish
tax if that leads to the
amendment of their UK tax
returns and additional tax
to pay in the UK.”
He added that if tax
is repaid, Spain may pay
interest as well. But “when-
Nexus Insurance Brokers doubles staff
as it targets substantial GCC expansion
Watson: important strategy
market entry strategies.”
In April, Nexus opened
its second Bahrain office.
It also operates two offices
in the UAE and employs
some 270 advisers.
AUGUST 2008 [www.international-adviser.com] INTERNATIONAL ADVISER 11 5
Tolchard: local products?
Securities Fund, plans for
which were revealed by
International Adviser last
month. The Luxembourg
Sicav is managed by Joel
V Rodriguez.
ever the Spanish repayment
means an increase in UK
tax, Her Majesty’s Revenue
& Customs (HMRC) will
charge interest on the UK
tax that then becomes
payable”.
The HMRC has until the
31 Jan after the fifth anniversary
of the end of the
tax year in question to
make an additional assessment
because it had discovered
the tax paid to the
UK was inadequate.
■ New visa regulations in
the United Arab Emirates,
which came into effect at the
end of July, have sparked
concern among expats who
say they threaten their presence
there. The rules aim
to curb illegal immigration
by making it more difficult
to obtain and renew visas,
and levy fines for those
who work in the country
while on a tourist visa.
There is also a new
requirement that obliges
visa applicants to be covered
by health insurance
unless they are from one of
34 exempt countries.
NEWS
NEWS
Headline over two please
Head
over two
IN BRIEF
Dip in offshore funds
under management
Overseas funds under
the management of UK
domiciled investment
houses fell 6% in June
from the previous
month, according to
the trade body the
IMA, while net retail
sales of overseas
domiciled funds saw
outflows of £164.7m.
DDQ taps into water
with index product
Structured investment
specialist DDQ is
launching the Global
Water Portfolio. The
six-year-term, capitalprotected
investment
product will offer
exposure to the global
water industry by
investing in companies
featured in the S&P
Global Water Index.
Fidelity global indexlinked
bond fund
Andy Weir is to manage
a new Fidelity global
inflation-linked bond
fund, which aims to
protect an investor’s
savings against inflation.
■ July’s technical
briefing feature
by Paul Kennedy
of FundsNetwork
contained some errors:
The word ‘income’
was used in a graph
title rather than
‘interest’, the wrong
colours were used in
the key in the table
on page 36 and the
outperformance of
bonds over collective
investments was shown
as 60% when it should
have been 15%. See
the original document
at www.fidelity.co.uk/
pdfs/adviser/insurance_
bonds_collective_
investments.pdf.
For the current and all
previous editions, with
full news archive, go to
www.international-adviser.com
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