Among the features that set the new scheme apart from other QROPS is the fact that it uses Platform One “exclusively, so we keep costs low and offer a choice of RDR fee options or full fund-based commissions”, to accommodate all types of adviser remuneration models, John Rusher, chief executive of MC Trustees (Malta), said.
The new Malet International Retirement Scheme, as it's called, went live at the end of last month. (Malet means "safe harbour" in Maltese, according to Rusher.) It is MC Trustees' second Maltese scheme, the first being the MCT Malta Private Retirement Scheme.
The new QROPS offers pension scheme members access to the full range of investment products normally available to Platform One investors, Rusher added, which includes upwards of 6,000 funds as well as direct equities.
“This scheme puts paid to the idea that you can only get a relatively low- cost QROPS if you tie up with an offshore bond for a ‘QROPS –lite’ option, as well as the idea that you have to take lots of commission with a QROPS, or that QROPS cannot be RDR compliant,” he said.
Platform One is a UK-based wrap platform provider which caters for high net worth individuals in the UK and abroad. It was launched by a group of investment companies and advisory firms in 2011, and is headed up by managing director Michael Fordham. Peter Collier, Platform One's head of distribution, said the company had considerable experience in the "QROPS space" through its web-based portal, and stressed that advisers would have "ease of access to a first class product".
Among Malta's first QROPS
MC Trustees' Malta scheme was one of the first three Maltese schemes to be approved by HM Revenue & Customs in 2010, after the UK tax authority first recognised Malta as a jurisdiction to which UK pensions could be transferred at the end of November 2009.
In 2010, MC Trustees did a deal with UK-based platform provider Ascentric, whereby Ascentric became the first UK wrap service to put a QROPS on its platform, making use of MC Trustees' then-new Maltese scheme.
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MC Malet International |
|
|
Provider |
MC Trustees(Malta), with Platform One Int’l |
|
Launch date |
December 2013 |
|
Jurisdiction |
Malta |
|
Initial charge |
€800 |
|
Annual fee |
€1,050 |
|
Annual platform charge |
0.45% or 0.6% (plus adviser |
|
Minimum investment |
£50,000 |
|
Available currencies |
$,€,£, others on request |
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Excluded client |
United States* |
|
Fund choice |
Up to 6,000 funds, including UK and int’l |
|
Other investment options |
ETFs, equities, cash, bonds, foreign |
*MC Trustees’ other Maltese QROPS, the MCT Malta Private Retirement
Scheme, does accept the pension transfers of American nationals
