How to choose the right QROPS advice

The nightmare of dealing with a QROPS pension transfer through unregulated advisers is highlighted in a squabble over a recent government report about how UK crown dependencies manage financial services.

Michael Foot, a former Financial Services Authority director, submitted his report that looked at how finance is regulated in the Isle of Man, Channel Islands and British Virgin Islands last year.

Now, he is accused of ignoring alleged regulatory breaches by online QROPS advisory firms in Spain and Asia that have transferred pensions in to QROPS and have ‘hidden’ commission fees of up to 30% of the fund value.

Foot says the scope of his inquiry did not include looking at alleged malpractice.

His critics say they passed him written details of alleged failings by QROPS financial firms and he ignored lack of compliance and the bypassing of rules designed to protect clients.

Others say a lot of misselling evidence is anecdotal.

QROPS Adviser is a financial firm that has successfully managed thousands of QROPS transfers around the world

Dealing with a non-regulated firm does not give QROPS pension transfer clients the same protection.

The important point for QROPS clients to consider is the QROPS provider may well be regulated in the country where the scheme is based, but the financial adviser is an agent of the client not the provider, and the provider’s regulatory protection does not extend to the adviser.

Currently, QROPS Adviser has a special transfers team working on more than a 1,000 transfers from the Singapore QROPS scheme, which was delisted by HM Revenue and Customs in May 2008.

The jurisdiction remains delisted but HMRC refuses to comment about why the action was taken. A trustee have announced they intend to take HMRC to the High Court in London in a bid to regain their listing.