The company, which opened to new business this week, said it will offer both a full QROPS and a ‘lite’ option for those with smaller pension pots. Those opting to use the cheaper ‘lite’ option, which has a initial fee of £600 and an annual charge of £800, will be able to use the discretionary management services of TAM Asset Management, based in the UK.
Meanwhile, the full QROPS option will offer access to all the usual offshore bond providers and a wide choice of discretionary managers. Fees for the full QROPS are £800 initial and £1,100 annuall – payable in advance.
Harbour managing director Justin Caffrey said the reason for limiting the choice for those investors wishing to use the ‘lite’ option was to ensure a “streamlined service”. He added that TAM has a reputation as a high quality discretionary manager.
Caffery added, when starting Harbour, his aim was to build a high calibre team. To this end, he has brought a number of highly experienced people onto the company board including Richard Garrod – who is also director of Confiance Pensions, a Guernsey based financial services company, David Mason, a former director at STM and a number of high profile lawyers.
QROPS have been available from Malta trustees since 2009, but over the past year the jurisdiction has risen to prominence – particularly following HM Revenue & Custom’s decision to stop trusts in Guernsey from offering the international pension schemes.
Since then, the QROPS industry has seen numerous launches from high quality trust companies in the jurisdiction and has even gone so far as to produce guidelines for trustees wishing to set up in the jurisdiction.
