The Qrops, which is administered by sole trustees Dominion Fiduciary Services, is established under trust in Malta.
The Novia GRA is a defined contribution arrangement designed to provide flexible retirement benefits to the member and death benefits to the party nominated by the member. The plan is open to any qualifying investor via their intermediary.
With no minimum or maximum investment amount for the transfers; the plan offers advisers access to a suite of portfolio construction, asset allocation and risk assessment tools through the Novia Global wealth management service.
Advisers are able to automatically rebalance, switch without incurring fees (excluding equities), and back test against benchmarks. The GRA also offers a multi-currency service; providing access to over 45 fund managers and fully automated, 24 hour online trading.
Tax benefits
As it is based in Malta, the income and the gains from the GRA will be exempt from taxes in Malta, with the exception of investments in immovable property located there. Assets invested outside of Malta may be subject to taxes in the other country.
Bill Vasilieff, chief executive of Novia Global, said: “The international retirement market is a huge and expanding sector with investors requiring more and more flexibility when it comes to their long term savings and income arrangements.”
Brexit not a concern
The looming spectre of Brexit and any knock-on implications for Qrops are not a concern for Vasilieff: “I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have any implication whatsoever. It’s really about transfers from the UK to worldwide countries. For example, émigrés to Australia.
“So I don’t think it would have any impact at all. The relationship is between HM Revenue & Customs and the Malta regulator.”
Sole trustee
Dominion is one of the largest independent trust companies operating both inside and outside of the EU with offices in Jersey, Geneva, Malta, New York, and London. It offers a variety of professional services; including private client services covering discretionary trusts, personal pension plans, bespoke private trust and company structures including charitable trusts, foundations and purpose trusts.
Vasilieff continued: “Following a rigorous due diligence process we were really pleased to select Dominion to be the trustees and to administer our Global Retirement Account. Dominion have been operating in this market for seven years, administering over £1bn ($1.39bn, €1.28bn) of pension assets, and have a strong reputation in the global retirement market.”
Novia Global, which launched in October 2015, provides a transparent wealth management service facilitating access to a diverse universe of assets and currencies.
