The total number of schemes listed also fell by 30% to 935 from 1,339 in the previous list.
Qrops reforms
All Guernsey Qrops had their Rops status removed by HMRC in 2012, except schemes solely for Guernsey residents.
“Although these former schemes are no longer Qrops under HMRC rules, the pension assets transferred from a UK registered pension are still deemed a Taxable Asset Transfer Fund (TATF), therefore they behave very much like a Qrops,” said White.
He added that it is “possible” Guernsey has updated the rules ahead of second review of Rops list by HMRC on 2 June, following the introduction of the new requirement from the Finance Bill from 6 April 2017.
Stewart Davies, group chief executive of specialist pensions provider Momentum Pensions, which has officers in Malta, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, said he believes the developments are “long overdue” and driven by changes announced in the Draft Finance Bill on 5th December 2016.
“Guernsey has been consistently behind other jurisdictions in terms of the regulatory oversight of their pension schemes, where the reliance on a code of conduct is somewhat out-of-date,” he told IA.
