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Expat retirees take pensions out of UK to safeguard funds against eurozone crisis

Posted: 22nd May 2012 10:01

Deficits in FTSE350 companies’ pension funds have soared to an alarming £92 billion, according to latest estimates, thanks largely to the escalating turmoil in the eurozone.

With the crisis on the continent deepening, the pension vacuum in Britain is growing at a staggering speed as annuity rates are being forced to an all time low.

And it is this uncertainty over the eurozone which is prompting thousands of expatriates to take their pensions out of the UK and move them into an HMRC-recognised QROPS.

Nigel Green, chief executive of the deVere Group, the company responsible for almost half of the £1.3 billion that has been transferred into QROPS since 2006, explains: “Annuity rates, which have already been battered by the adverse effects of the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing programme, are set to reach record lows thanks to the crisis engulfing Europe’s single currency and the link between gilt and annuity prices.

“This toxic combination of QE and the euro saga is forcing a growing number of those who live overseas and on the verge of retirement to think about safeguarding their pension funds by transferring them into QROPS in order to reduce the risk of being left permanently poorer due to rock bottom annuity rates.”

Since April 2006, when such schemes were first established, the amount moved into QROPS has been increasing year on year, according to latest HMRC figures.

It is a trend that the deVere Group expects to rocket due to the volatile economic situation. “This recent data on the UK’s growing pension black hole strengthens the case that expats, who are uniquely positioned to do so, should seriously consider protecting their pension pot by moving it to a QROPS in a jurisdiction such as Malta.

“I expect that as more data is released, the scale of the problem unfolds, and the eurozone crisis worsens, more and more British retirees will be looking at QROPS to provide them a sustainable and secure income in retirement.

“Indeed, last week the deVere Group dealt with a record number of QROPS applications.”