Profiles & Comment | 13 Feb 13

The offshore investment environment can at times be a minefield to pick investments from given that a lot of jurisdictions outside the US and UK lack regulation, making it easier for those operating in such regions to bend their investment mandates to allow for activity that goes against what they promote to advisers and that is not in the best interest of investors.

Investment | 13 Feb 13

US investment house First Trust Advisors is to enter the European ETF market with the launch of a new suite of ‘smart passive’ products, the firm announced today.

Tax & Regulation | 13 Feb 13

Tax experts say that a recent change in the rules governing a special form of debt known as “debts under a deed” will bring such debts which in fact are a form of asset within the inheritance tax net.

People Moves | 12 Feb 13

Mike Lightfoot, a well-known figure in Guernsey’s QROPS industry during the island’s rapid rise to prominence as a QROPS jurisdiction ahead of last April’s unexpected removal of 310 out of its 313 schemes by HMRC has been named operations director at First National Trustee Co.

Investment | 12 Feb 13

IDAD, a Petersfield, UK-based structured products specialist, has launched a new Natixis-branded product that it says is designed to deliver “high income along with a full return of capital” over its five-year term, through exposure to the UK, Taiwanese and Russian stock markets.