Close Brothers Asset Management enhances its QROPS offering by opening its Guernsey Personal Retirement Plan to the life assurance industry. Advisors can now access life bond products from Royal London 360, Friends Provident International, Skandia International and Generali International through the Close scheme.
Life bonds give further flexibility to advisors and clients as life cover can be added, to top up capital in the plan on the death of the member, for the benefit of dependants and can be a key part of succession planning, says Rex Cowley, head of marketing at Close Brothers Asset Management (International). In addition, the life products give advisors access to a much wider universe of investment funds and discretionary managers.
Close has been at the forefront of QROPS development and was one of the first schemes to qualify for recognition from HMRC in 2006, shortly after A Day opened up the QROPS market.
The inclusion of life products brings a complex range of issues in terms of how the QROPS and life product interact from a legal and operational perspective, says Mike Lightfoot, director of pensions at Close Brothers Asset Management. Close has invested in ensuring that these issues have been properly addressed and this differentiates us from many of our peers.
This product enhancement is the first of a range of strategic steps Close is taking to further enhance their product to better meet the needs of UK expatriates and foreign nationals that have accumulated UK pension assets and no longer reside in the UK.
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