As previously reported, the MCT Malta scheme was one of the first three Maltese schemes to be approved by HM Revenue & Customs earlier this year, after the UK tax authority first recognised Malta as a jurisdiction to which UK pensions could be transferred at the end of November.
Martin Cadman, managing director of MC Trustees, said it was the company’s view that a growing proportion of assets will migrate to platforms like Ascentric, which he noted will be “particularly valuable for clients who live in different time zones, and wish to review their investments when it suits them”.
“With this arrangement we believe that we will be able to significantly reduce the costs usually associated with managing QROPS, investments, and pass that benefit on to the client,” Cadman added.
Based in Bath, Ascentric is a whole-of-market wrap service operated by Investment Funds Direct, in which Royal London Group acquired a majority stake in three years ago. Investment Funds Direct was founded in 1982, and in 1999 launched Britain’s first online fund supermarket, Fundsdirect.
Ascentric sales and marketing director Richard Goodall said the addition of the QROPS to the Ascentric platform was a response to what he called a “significant demand from advisers for a QROPS to meet the pension needs of their clients working overseas”.
£1bn in assets
MC Trustees is a group of companies that has been administering Small Self Administered Schemes since 1986, and Self Invested Personal Pensions since 1995. The company currently looks after around 1,500 plans and holds some £1bn in client assets, according to Ascentric.
