Investment - Articles - AMX makes tax efficient global equity funds open to pensions

 The move is designed to help pension schemes in a range of jurisdictions benefit from their tax exempt status when investing in global equity strategies.

 AMX has added Common Contractual funds (CCFs) onto its platform to provide pension schemes, both in the UK and beyond, with access to global equity strategies in a tax efficient manner.

 A CCF is a tax transparent Irish pooled fund structure that enables look-through tax treatment. This allows tax exempt investors – for example UK pension schemes – to benefit from their tax exempt status when investing in global equities while retaining the benefits of a pooled fund structure. Pension funds could save as much as 20-40 basis points on a typical active global equity product via a CCF1.

 Oliver Jaegemann, global head of AMX, said: “With a large proportion of UK pension schemes significantly invested in global equities, AMX identified a clear need to address the inefficiencies in how they were investing.

 “Some schemes are simply unaware of the implications of withholding tax structures. In part, this is because more traditional fund structures tend to be opaque from a tax perspective.

 “By launching CCFs on the AMX platform, we are giving investors access to the benefits of pooled fund structures, while protecting their tax status. For managers, the centralised process, reduced administrative burden and consistent, standardised reporting removes significant barriers to accessing CCFs.

 “The introduction of CCFs is in line with our broader aim to deliver greater efficiency and transparency across the asset management industry.”

 Allocations to global equities have been steadily rising, at the expense of the UK, and now represent an average of 61 per cent of total equity allocation