The four panellists were responding to a question at the International Portfolio Bond and Financial Planning Forum about where they would advise IFAs to set up and be regulated within Europe.
Shane Wood, business development manager for Czech-based European IFA network OpesFidelio, said “possibly not France”.
“France is a very specific market, with its own ‘not well known’ regulation,” he explained. “You have to be locally qualified to operate in France, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it.”
“I definitely agree about France,” said David Howell, chief executive of Guardian Wealth Management. Despite admitting to a penchant for French food, Howell added that “as a regulator, I struggle with them.”
Setting up a branch in Europe could be a strategy for UK advisers concerned about the loss of passporting rights once the UK has left the European Union, he added.
Howell believes that options are open to firms looking to establish a presence in Europe. “You’ve got to decide what your target market is, where you want to be.”
“Portugal could be a dark horse destination over a longer period of time,” added Sarah Lord, an independent industry expert, formerly of Killik & Co.
“It is quite a quiet nation and it has some good double taxation agreements in place. There is a big British expat community there and very heavily English speaking.”
Sam Instone, chief executive of AES International said that the ability to speak with a regulator in English was a consideration for his firm.
“Our options are Gibraltar, which is affected by Brexit as well so not really an option, Dublin, Malta is an ok jurisdiction, and potentially Scotland, depending on what happens there.”
“We want to communicate with our regulator in the English language, so those are really the only options we are looking at. Probably for us, the best one will be Ireland.”
