Boal & Co has expanded operations in Gibraltar following the licensing of its pension trust business by Gibraltar’s Financial Services Commission.
Boal & Co has offered pension administration through its subsidiary in Gibraltar for the past two years. The FSC authorisation has allowed the company to expand its offering into pension trustee work and create two full-time director positions in its Gibraltar office.
Managing Director Gary Boal said: ‘Our pension administration company in Gibraltar has now expanded to become a pension trustee business newly authorised by the FSC. This is just the start and we expect to build our Gibraltar operation, with more new business in the years ahead.
‘It is an exciting time for the company, developing fresh opportunities internationally. More strategic international expansion is also planned for completion in 2015. Indeed, having celebrated our 20th anniversary at the start of this year, 2015 is set to be something of a milestone year for us.’
Boal & Co, headquartered in Isle of Man Business Park, started offering Gibraltar-based ‘QROPS’ (overseas pension transfer schemes) alongside its Isle of Man QROPS in 2013, to offer additional benefits to expatriate clients and their advisers around the world. The Isle of Man currently has effective double taxation pension agreements with 12 countries (including the UK, Australia and Ireland), but payments from Island schemes to members outside of that 12-country list are currently subject to 20% tax at source in the Isle of Man. In Gibraltar, in contrast, pension payments are subject to only 2.5% local tax, a situation fully accepted by the UK’s HM Revenue and Customs.
Director Mark Kiernan added: ‘We now have QROPS members in 59 countries, and are particularly strong across the Far East, so it is a very international offering to the market. Expanding the products available through Gibraltar allows us to secure the best possible return for members beyond the scope of the current Isle of Man double taxation agreement network. This is part of our continual development of all areas of our pensions business both in Gibraltar and in the Isle of Man. QROPS are just a part of what has now become at Boal & Co a very significant international pensions business.’
Boal & Co, which now employs 27 staff, provides administration and trustee services to international and local pension schemes, for individuals and multinationals alike. The firm’s client base now includes 15 of the world’s leading 500 companies, a number which is firmly expected to grow further before the end of the year.
