Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) passed their eighth anniversary on April 6, 2014 despite travelling a sometimes rocky road.
QROPS have had their critics, but the figures show they are popular with British expats and international workers with money locked into UK pension rights who have now left the country.
Over the years, rule changes and court cases have seen hundreds of schemes come and go, and in some cases financial centres like Singapore, Slovakia and Cyprus have closed to QROPS.
See the QROPS Timeline here
The facts are the QROPS market is healthier than ever with a record 3,385 offshore pensions hosted in 42 financial centres detailed on the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) QROPS list published on April 23, 2014.
Financial centres have opened 22 new schemes since the last list was published on April 1, 2014 – and just one is off-list in the USA.
Huge choice for QROPS investors
QROPS investors have never had so much choice and the number of new schemes opening does not look like falling back with 131 new pensions opening in the 105 days since January 1, 2014.
The QROPS List is a sometimes crude indicator of the state of the market as the data only highlights the number of schemes publically listed in each financial centre. Some QROPS managers tick the ‘no publicity’ box, but HMRC does not release the details of how many.
Neither is the amount of money invested in each financial centre or pension released.
However, HMRC has recently disclosed around 10,000 QROPS transfers take place every year and between £3 billion and £5 billion has shifted out of onshore pensions to QROPS worldwide.
The figures in the table below show the number of QROPS in each financial centre.
The next list is due for publication by HMRC on May 1, 2014.
| QROPS List - April 23, 2014 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Count of QROPS pensions | |
| Values | ||
| April 1, 2014 | April 23, 2014 | |
| Australia | 1375 | 1390 |
| Austria | 11 | 11 |
| Barbados | 2 | 2 |
| Belgium | 22 | 22 |
| Bulgaria | 3 | 3 |
| Canada | 99 | 101 |
| Czech Republic | 3 | 3 |
| Denmark | 8 | 8 |
| European Union | 1 | 1 |
| Finland | 3 | 3 |
| France | 41 | 41 |
| Germany | 56 | 56 |
| Gibraltar | 34 | 35 |
| Greece | 1 | 1 |
| Guernsey | 66 | 68 |
| Hong Kong | 3 | 3 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 |
| Iceland | 3 | 3 |
| India | 27 | 27 |
| Ireland | 746 | 747 |
| Isle of Man | 236 | 236 |
| Italy | 47 | 47 |
| Jamaica | 2 | 2 |
| Jersey | 135 | 136 |
| Latvia | 1 | 1 |
| Liechtenstein | 3 | 3 |
| Luxembourg | 8 | 8 |
| Malta | 19 | 19 |
| Mauritius | 2 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 108 | 108 |
| New Zealand | 55 | 55 |
| Norway | 8 | 8 |
| Portugal | 23 | 23 |
| Russian Federation | 1 | 1 |
| South Africa | 30 | 30 |
| Spain | 16 | 16 |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden | 8 | 8 |
| Switzerland | 136 | 136 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 2 | 2 |
| Turkey | 3 | 3 |
| USA | 15 | 14 |
| Total: | 3364 | 3385 |
| Source: HMRC | ||
