Investors in the U.K. can trade exchange traded funds, but fund providers have been loath to set up shop in the country. However, with the repeal of the U.K.’s stamp duty, the European ETF industry could expand more quickly.
In the Autumn Statement, U.K. Treasury Chief George Osborne abolished the stamp duty on investments purchased by fund managers from U.K. domiciled ETF providers, reports Chris Flood for Financial Times.
Jorge Morley-Smith, director of tax at the IMA, argues that the stamp duty change will put the U.K. on a level playing field by removing a type of double tax hit.
The move was designed to “encourage those funds to locate in the U.K.,” instead of setting up in countries with lower taxes, according to Osborne. For instance, there are 480 ETFs domiciled in Luxembourg, 424 in Ireland and 278 in France, but no ETF is domiciled in the U.K., according to Financial News.
“This should ultimately increase consumer choice and support the growth in the use of ETFs by a wide range of investors from retail through to pension funds and insurance companies,” Mark Johnson, head of U.K. sales for its iShares range, said in the Financial News article.
Monica Gogna, a partner at Pinsent Masons, the law group, expects the move to increase the total number of European ETFs.
However, the tax changes may not show any immediate effects on the industry. For instance, Alan Miller, chief investment officer of asset manager SCM Private, remains skeptical, pointing out that long-established operations in Ireland and Luxembourg won’t automatically shift operations into the U.K.
“For the investors there is no difference,” Hector McNeill, co-chief executive of Boost ETP, said in the Financial News article. “For the ETF company, they are probably already paying a lower rate of corporation tax within those centres. I can’t quite understand the point of it to be honest.”
For more information on the ETF industry, visit our current affairs category.