Offshore braced for bond sales drop

Offshore bond sales could fall next year after the UK government's capital gains tax (CGT) changes made direct investments appear more attractive. Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the changes in his pre-Budget report, which will see a single CGT rate of 18% introduced from April 2008, with no indexation or taper relief. However, gains within offshore bond wrappers will still be taxed at rates up to 40% for high income earners. Adrian Corkhill, product development manager at Canada Life International (CLI), said the changes were likely to impact on sales in the short term but there ...