Investing In Offshore Collective Funds

Offshore investment vehicles include unit trusts, mutual funds or investment companies. The offshore company will normally be situated in a country where the investment fund pays little or no tax on its income or gains. While this does allow the investor some benefit while invested, if the proceeds are brought back to the UK they will be taxed at that point.

Risk & Reward

As with any other investment, the risks and rewards will be dictated by the investment strategy and decisions of the investment managers. However, it should be borne in mind that many offshore investments do not benefit from the legislative and regulatory protections that UK-authorised investments have.

Financial Conduct Authority Recognised Funds

These are funds which, although managed overseas, are permitted to market themselves directly to UK private investors. For an investment to be ‘recognised’ it will either be an investment authorised by another regulator within the EEA, or it will have provided information to satisfy the FCA that it provides ‘adequate protection’ to investors and is appropriately managed. However, investors in such schemes will not benefit from access to UK customer protection schemes such as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.