Brooklands Pensions said it plans to open an office in Gibraltar in order to provide its full range of pensions, including a Gibraltar based QROPS, but that while “local and regulatory requirements are being put in place”, it has entered into a wider working relationship with CTG – a Gibraltar based trust company.
Steven Knight, chairman of CTG and also chairman of the Gibraltar Association of Pension Fund Administrators (GAPFA) said: “Gibraltar as a whole welcomes established providers of International pensions like Brooklands. A key factor is to ensure that practitioners new to Gibraltar remain fully compliant with all local regulations which is something CTG can provide straightaway.”
Brooklands said the agreement enables it to provide a Gibraltar based QROPS with immediate effect and to offer its full range of fiduciary services, including the provision of international pension trusts, international offshore companies and other business structures.
The Dubai headquartered company said it has also been invited to join GAPFA and expects to be “officially confirmed as members at the next meeting” of the association.
Click here to read a short history of QROPS in Gibraltar
Gibraltar grows in popularity
Gibraltar has a chequered history as a QROPS jurisdiction. In 2009 the brakes were put on transfers into the British Overseas Territory after HM Revenue and Customs raised concerns about its 0% income tax charge on pension income for the over 60s.
However, when a new government was elected in March last year, plans to resurrect the industry were put into motion led by Gibraltar’s newly appointed minister for financial services, Gilbert Licudi.
Licudi’s first success came in June when the Gibraltar Parliament approved two amendments to its tax regime which, at the time, were believed to “satisfy the concerns of Britain’s tax authorities”. The most important of the two amendments was one which mandates that all benefits paid by “certain imported pensions” are to be taxed at a rate of 2.5%.
In September, the government finally announced that it had received confirmation from HMRC that it was happy for the jurisdiction to begin accepting transfers-in of pension schemes again.
