Making our mark
The Island is now an important and rapidly growing player in the offshore funds sector, particularly focusing on hedge funds and hedge fund of funds. The Island is also a favourite location for the AIM listing of closed-end funds, particularly property focused schemes.
Fund diversity in the Isle of Man
With this growth in the scale of activities in the funds sector, there has been a rapid expansion in the number of licensed third party fund administrators. Many new, specialist fund administration operations have been established over the past couple of years, giving greater diversity to the Island's service offering to the promoters of offshore funds. However, the established global players such as HSBC and Fortis have also seen a rapid growth in their business levels on the Island, and have significantly increased the numbers of people they employ.
Creating, innovating, leading
Looking to the future, the Isle of Man funds sector will continue to develop and innovate, seeking to remain at the "leading edge" of offshore funds jurisdictions. Indeed, the Island has a unique offering to the offshore funds industry as it is able to support the incorporation, domicile and administration of offshore funds all in one jurisdiction, with very favourable cost comparisons to all competitor jurisdictions and a zero rate of corporate tax. The Island also offers a very strong incentive for high-earning fund managers and promoters to re-locate to the Island, with a very attractive tax liability cap of £100k per annum, notwithstanding a top rate of personal tax of only 18%. With the physical space to accommodate major growth and development, the Island is, indeed, now the premier location for offshore funds.