Despite a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) opening almost every day for the past year, less than half of the financial centres hosting the pensions have opened a new scheme.
In the past 12 months, a net 358 QROPS have opened – that is after taking away 32 pensions that were delisted from 390 that joined the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) QROPS List.
Surprisingly, 15 of the 42 QROPS jurisdictions have not opened or closed any schemes in the year.
That leaves 18 adding new QROPS and nine in the net position of having lost pensions.
The biggest loser is India, where 19 QROPS have closed in 12 months.
State of the market
The largest gain is for Australia, with 266 new pensions in the same period.
Looking at the Top 10 QROPS tables below, only five financial centres added 10 or more new schemes.
Currently, the global QROPS market comprises 3,541 pensions based in 42 financial jurisdictions – a drop of six from the last published list.
Australia dominates the market by number of QROPS, with a 43% market share from 1,520 pensions and almost double the number of second-place Ireland, with 770 schemes and a 21.75% market share.
The figures come from the HMRC QROPS List, which is generally published twice a month.
The next list is expected on November 1, 2014.
| Top 10 QROPS Tables - October 27, 2014 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Count of QROPS pensions | ||
| Values | ||
| Jurisdiction | October 15, 2013 | October 23, 2014 |
| Australia | 1254 | 1520 |
| Ireland | 736 | 770 |
| Isle of Man | 229 | 224 |
| Switzerland | 137 | 139 |
| Jersey | 135 | 137 |
| Netherlands | 105 | 114 |
| Canada | 98 | 97 |
| Guernsey | 52 | 82 |
| New Zealand | 48 | 59 |
| Germany | 56 | 55 |
| Total: | 2850 | 3197 |
| Source: HMRC | ||
| Market share by number of QROPS | ||
| Jurisdiction | October 15, 2013 | October 27, 2014 |
| Australia | 39.40% | 42.93% |
| Ireland | 23.12% | 21.75% |
| Isle of Man | 7.19% | 6.33% |
| Switzerland | 4.30% | 3.93% |
| Jersey | 4.24% | 3.87% |
| Netherlands | 3.30% | 3.22% |
| Canada | 3.08% | 2.74% |
| Guernsey | 1.63% | 2.32% |
| New Zealand | 1.51% | 1.67% |
| Germany | 1.76% | 1.55% |
| Total: | 89.54% | 90.29% |
| Source: HMRC | ||
| Most QROPS added in past year | ||
| Jurisdiction | No of QROPS | |
| Australia | 266 | |
| Ireland | 34 | |
| Guernsey | 30 | |
| Gibraltar | 18 | |
| New Zealand | 11 | |
| Netherlands | 9 | |
| Malta | 4 | |
| Latvia | 2 | |
| Switzerland | 2 | |
| Hong Kong | 2 | |
| Jersey | 2 | |
| Austria | 2 | |
| Italy | 2 | |
| Total: | 384 | |
| Source: HMRC | ||
