NEWS
Hong Kong life firms hit
by new investment rules 3
Key Jersey official ‘to
be based in the UK’ 3
Canada Life Int’l account
to ‘drip feed’ gifts 3
Dubai FSA bids to
attract funds industry 5
HMRC removes 55%
pension transfer penalty 5
Report highlights strong
Bahrain economy 5
Channel Island lawyers
to debate ending UK ties 6
EFAMA calls for longterm
savings product 6
Move to replace HK
insurance regulator 6
Vistra acquires stake
in Centrapriv Zurich 9
Kotak Mahindra unveils
India corp bond fund 9
BlackRock offers global
range for Singapore 10
Jersey moves into
India and Middle East 11
RL360º says mirror
funds underperform… 13
…but FPI refutes the
findings of research 13
Gemini and Motilal Oswal
set up Ucits III Oeic 14
Jersey banks see jump
in Far East deposits 16
Australia tops favoured
expat destination poll 56
New rules in pipeline for
UAE insurance industry
BY HELEN BURGGRAF
A raft of new regulations is
to be issued by year-end in
the UAE as its three-yearold
insurance regulator
increasingly takes charge
of the country’s insurance
activities, sources close to
the situation report.
It comes as a moratorium
on the granting of
new insurance licences
– understood to have been
in place since December
2008 – continues.
The Insurance Authority
(IA) is said to be gradually
pre-empting oversight of
insurance entities already
regulated by other bodies,
DeVere has eye on US for fund platform
BY DANIEL JUDGE
The deVere Group is planning
to offer its fund platform
to expats in the US
and may open offices in
New York and Miami to
service and advise them.
The IFA firm, which
describes itself as the
“world’s largest independent
international financial
consultancy group”, has a
US-based lawyer working
on the proposal to assess
the legal and regulatory
requirements of the move.
MD profile 26-27
Mark Hartigan
The CEO of Zurich
Global Life’s Africa
and Middle East
life business talks
compliance and
transparency
AUGUST 2010
For Distributors of International Fund, Life and Banking Products www.international-adviser.com
Features – page 2
News analysis 18-19
Swiss wealth
managers Winds
of change come
to Switzerland
and its business
model founded
on secrecy
such as the Dubai Financial
Services Authority, which
is responsible for insurers
in the Dubai International
Financial Centre free zone,
and the Dubai Economic
Department, which oversees
certain insurance
activities in Dubai.
Some experts note that
the IA is not alone in the
Gulf in seeking to tighten
up its regulation of insurers,
intermediaries and other
financial services providers
in the wake of the recent
global downturn, and as
governments there look
to bring their regulatory
frameworks into line with
best practice elsewhere.
Green: ‘plans at advanced stage’
Nigel Green, the Zurichbased
deVere Group’s
chief executive, said the
plans were at a relatively
Hong Kong businesses are
similarly coming to grips
with a package of new
rules that took effect at the
end of June (see page 3).
A clear sign of the IA’s
intent was its announcement
earlier this year that
financial advisers and
insurers doing business
in the UAE would have
to begin enforcing antimoney-laundering
rules,
and hire a compliance
officer to ensure the rules
were being adhered to,
one Dubai-based regional
life office executive noted.
Full story and a list of the
new regulations at www.
international-adviser.com
advanced stage and that
he hoped to launch the US
business by the end of the
year, subject to the smooth
running of the establishment
process.
He said the logistics of
the operation were relatively
simple because, regulatory
approval aside, all it
would require to adapt the
platform to the US would
be to replace the current
list of funds with portfolios
approved by the US regulator,
the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
End of embargo
on transfers
to NZ QROPS
BY SIMON DANAHER
An embargo put on transfers
to two New Zealandbased
QROPS by a number
of UK pension schemes has
been lifted after assurances
from HMRC, International
Adviser understands.
According to industry
sources, the two schemes
were falsely linked with
the activities of an adviser
transferring to a Latvianbased
scheme which
is understood to still be
under investigation.
David Milner, managing
director of Britannia
Financial Services, which
administers both of the
QROPS, said: “Two New
Zealand schemes have
been falsely connected to
the practices of a QROPS
based in Latvia.
“We understand a USbased
advisory firm has
endeavoured to divert
attention from the Latvian
QROPS they use by telling
HMRC they use NZ-based
schemes – and in particular
our two well-known pension
transfer vehicles.”
For a short period some
UK providers were concerned
enough with speculation
surrounding the
New Zealand schemes to
ban transfers entirely.
For full story see www.
international-adviser.com
Intermediary profile 32-33
Blevins Franks The
Malta-based firm
has built up a solid
expatriate clientele
by following the
‘Anglo-Saxon way’
of financial planning
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