With a cluster of international life companies celebrating 30 years on the Isle of Man, and you having lived and worked there for 27 years, how has the life industry fared?
The life companies have fared incredibly well over that period. They have been very good at identifying opportunities and responding to them, and I would now describe it as an industry that provides wealth solutions to international investors as opposed to the providers of products to UK expats.
There has been a lot of change throughout that period and it has always remained reasonably agile, which is one of the characteristics I like about the industry. It has contributed a lot to the local economy as well.
Is the Isle of Man still a good base for international life offices?
I have always been of the view that the Isle of Man is a very well-regulated jurisdiction. It has demonstrated its ability over time to be economically and politically stable. From an international life point of view, it continues to be pretty tax-neutral and, in that respect, the island remains a good place for international life companies to operate from.
Is Dublin an alternative to the Isle of Man?
The life companies on the Isle of Man recognised Dublin would be an interesting location, particularly for European markets. We have a life company based in Dublin, regulated by the central bank, for that purpose.
It enables us to respond to the European market, while the Isle of Man company can respond to the international market, but I don’t see Dublin as a threat. It is a complementary jurisdiction to what we are doing.
The reasons for being based in particular jurisdictions could change in light of Brexit, with the Isle of Man in an interesting position as a crown dependency.
I can’t possibly imagine what Brexit is going to look like. Something I have learned from being in the international life industry for so many years is that, with change comes opportunity. So we don’t see Brexit as being a threatening thing at all. We see it as potentially presenting us with some opportunities, though in exactly what form and shape it is difficult to imagine.
Is Old Mutual International prepared for the Isle of Man’s planned conduct of business code regulations for the life companies headquartered on the island?
Yes, I am very supportive of it, both from the perspective of having been on the board of the regulator and now leading an international life company. As a business, we embrace it.
We are well positioned to deal with it. A significant part of our business is single premium, unlike much of our peer group, and consequently we don’t have many of the issues that things such as commission disclosure will throw up.
The regulator has signalled its intent and has put in place a clear process of consultation. We engaged in that consultation early on. We know exactly what they are expecting and by what date, and we have lined ourselves up accordingly to deliver against that.
Are you comfortable with the possibility of some jurisdictions, the UAE, for example, having less onerous local regulations, which may give competitive advantage to non-expat focused life companies?
In an ideal world there would be a level playing field in any industry for all market participants. However, we don’t live in an ideal world. What’s important to us is not necessarily the pace of change but more the direction of change.
As long as the proposed regulation is ultimately in pursuit of better customer outcomes, that is absolutely in accordance with our agenda. For regulation to have the greatest impact in shaping customer outcomes, we would like to see regulators from various jurisdictions more aligned in terms of the timing and application of such regulation.
