Reform needed to halt offshore fund exodus - IMA

Speaking at the IIR Tax Conference in London today, IMA chief executive Richard Saunders says UK funds are struggling to compete with offshore domiciled offerings due to unfavourable regulatory and tax burdens. The IMA is calling on a tax-exempt regime for UK authorised funds, which would enable fund houses to look at Britain as an equal to other European centres such as Ireland and Luxembourg. Over the 10 years to end 2007, Irish-domiciled funds grew at a compound rate of 34% from €43bn to €806bn – where as the UK fund industry increased by only 11% over the same period, from £157bn to...