20 Oct Director of TISA Expresses Alarm Over Offshore Fund Providers Readiness for RDR

The director of policy at the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA) had claimed that many offshore fund providers systems are not ready to handle all of the changes that will come from the implementation of the RDR. Malcolm Small has expressed alarm over the lack of readiness amongst some offshore funders, mentioning that there were at least four that provide services to the UK who were not yet aware of the RDR or when it is due to be implemented. He commented "I've had conversations with a number of offshore fund providers, particularly those based in Luxembourg where they don't have a UK office or have no ongoing contact with their UK office. They need some substantial guidance in RDR and the system and procedural changes they need to make to cope with it. "This potentially means there will be some who will not be system ready for the end of 2012. System development scheduled for UK providers are already quite full with other things including re-registration. So if system changes needs to be made in a UK-based system by an offshore provider they may find the development schedules are already full and they have missed the boat." Not all offshore funders have the same problem, however he stressed that there needs to be an improved flow of information to ensure that the ones who are unaware have the required information.