Fraudsters have been stealing the identity of some of the UK’s best-known asset managers to stage an elaborate internet scam.
So far Aberdeen Asset Management, Schroders and Henderson Global Investors have discovered that bogus organisations claiming to be them have been soliciting for money.
Aberdeen has been moved to paste an announcement on its home page, warningDynamic Wealth Management: Even in this day and age of enlightenment thanks to the pervasive nature of information dissemination via the internet, some people are still concerned about the legalities and legitimacy of the offshore world of finance and banking. For some reason others simply assume that onshore equates to a ‘safe haven’ for money and offshore equates to a ‘risky tax haven.’
Well, you and I know that that is simply not the case! However, even though it is now clearer to more people that the offshore world holds many potential taxation benefits, there are still questions to be answered about why one should invest offshore and in this article we explore the benefits.
First things first…here’s another myth I wish to dispel – some people say that offshore investments and bank accounts are more lightly regulated than their entity-type-counterparts onshore…now, that’s not necessarily true!
Yes, certain jurisdictions give fund managers, bankers and investors pretty much free rein so that the rewards and risks are potentially far greater – but some jurisdictions are very highly regarded among financial professionals simply because of the incredibly high standards of protection they afford investors and account holders through insurance schemes and government regulation requirements for example:
The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are examples of offshore jurisdictions where offshore investment and saving policy or bank account holders are afforded high levels of protection. Just taking the Isle of Man – it offers policyholder protection schemes, it also has the highest financial services rating issued by the OECD, FATF and FSF and it has an independent Financial Services Ombudsman scheme not to mention the fact that both Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s have given the Isle of Man AAA ratings.
So – myth dispelled, let’s move on.
In terms of the benefits available when investing offshore they will always, always depend on the particular circumstances of the individual investor – but offshore financial services and structures can be used as part of an overall asset protection strategy for example, investing offshore can afford an investor greater flexibility in terms of international accessibility and the commodities, equities, derivatives, stocks, shares or companies they can invest in, plus there are of course sometimes significant taxation benefits available to an account holder depending on their countries of tax residence and domicile.
Other answers to the question posed by this article – namely ‘why invest offshore?’ – are because there are general benefits available including more efficient estate planning potential, privacy and confidentiality, better interest returns, the chance to exploit active business interests overseas in low or no tax locations and global access to assets and income.
