Sunday 1 April 2012

March 2012 Review – Financial Pages in Spain


Topical issues

At the end of the calendar month, I like to reflect on the main issues and topics on ‘Financial Pages in Spain’ during March 2012. The issues which were most read during the month covered these subjects

  • QROPS

  • Professional Advice

  • UK Budget

These are the issues that contributed the most readership. I’m always pleased to receive emails either to seek further advice or to comment on my articles.

Using the statistics provided by my service contractor, I can also indicate the most popular posts in terms of the number of people who visited the pages. They were, in order;

  1. QROPS

During the month, first through a leak and then confirmed, the new arrangements for Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) for 2012, were announced.

These were first trailed in a consultation document in December 2011 and therefore not a great shock. The very best advisers and there providers had already made all of the necessary changes to satisfy the new rules.

New Generation QROPS shows more detail. It is however clear that from now on there will be three major jurisdictions;

      Guernsey
      New Zealand
      Malta

  1. Getting Professional Advice

During March, I have been contacted by three expats in Spain who have been victims of appalling advice, bordering on fraud. Had these cases happened in the UK I would have referred them to either the Financial Services Authority (FSA) or the Financial Services Ombudsman.

But Spain is different and largely unregulated. It is still possible to get properly authorised and qualified advice.
     
I regularly refer readers of Financial Pages in Spain to authorised advisers that I have checked out.  Please email me for a referral

I deal, not just with financial advisers but also the following professionals;

·                                             Suitably qualified accountants
·                                             Professional lawyers
·                                             Chartered surveyors in Spain
·                                             Property professionals (AIPP)
·                                             Company formation for property ownership specialists

Getting Professional Advice is the detailed post.

  1. UK Budget

I posted two articles on this subject



The latter proved controversial !

* * * * * * *

Financial Pages in Spain continues to grow, as I can see from the statistics. Whilst Spain and UK dominate the views of both the Website and Blog, there have been readers from many other countries including Germany, New Zealand, Malta and Canada.

Any issues which arise can be answered on an individual basis if you email me. I’m happy to receive questions from anywhere but my real expertise relates to the UK and Spain.

I am happy to take suggestions from readers about future articles. Please email me with your own ideas or issues that you think need raising.

REMINDER from Financial Pages in Spain

I’ve owned property in Spain since 2002 and hate to think how much I’ve wasted on exorbitant bank charges on foreign exchange of the years!

So I’ve linked up for a new foreign exchange service. It is available in any major currency around the world but doesn’t offer cash transactions. This is a bank to bank arrangement and is priced to beat the major banks.

But you can test it for yourself! Get a quote from your normal supplier, and then get a quote from La Torre Fx.

Even on a transfer from the UK branch to the Spanish branch of my own bank, I made a big saving using La Torre Fx. It costs nothing to get a quote. But if it’s a better deal for YOU the application process is quite straightforward. Check here

Thank you for previous feedback and requests for referral

David Goodall
Financial Pages in Spain