Although the statistics show China is already a global powerhouse, it still has vast potential to expand. If there is to be a rival to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency in the 21st century, it surely could be the Renminbi (RMB) – the currency of the People’s Republic of China. 

By 2015, half of international trade operations (USD 2 trillion) could possibly pass through Hong Kong.  Over time, it is believed that the final phase of the RMB internationalisation process will mean foreign holders of RMB have the capacity and desire to retain and invest their RMB funds both in and out of mainland China.  To complete the process, Chinese authorities would like to make the currency fully convertible.  To accompany the process initiated by officials, Hong Kong’s strength as an offshore centre lies in its ability to develop a wide range of RMB products and services

Time for a breakthrough 

Meanwhile, Chinese policymakers have already introduced multiple accommodative taxation, trade finance and capital account measures to ease the internationalisation process of the RMB. The primary aims are to reduce costs on foreign exchange transactions and for the RMB to increase in value. Overall, this should encourage investors to switch to the currency in favour of the US dollar. 

The offshore RMB bond market is growing rapidly and current demand largely exceeds supply. Growth is driven by the restrictions on access by foreign investors to the onshore RMB bond market. Bond issuance is key for the market to continue growing and we believe new issuance should remain strong. 

Outstanding offshore RMB bond issuance is around RMB200bn (as at end October 2011);

 The pipeline suggests another RMB50-100bn for the rest of 2011;

•  Some European and North American companies may be using the offshore RMB market for ‘instant recognition’ in Asia;
•  The market is becoming more ‘two way’, and issuance is mainly from high quality issuers

Even if the story of China’s economic might is nothing new, that does not mean to us that investors have missed the opportunity. Quite the contrary, we see at least three forces that should help support local growth and investment opportunities over the coming years, including long-term macroeconomic plans, the coming political transition period and growing RMB-denominated markets. We also believe investors have ample means to get exposure to the China story in portfolios both directly and indirectly.

It seems that signs of a breakthrough are already slowly appearing for those investors wishing to enter the Chinese market - how appropriate for the year of the Dragon.

Fund Houses to look out for in particular would be those like HSBC who have great experience and knowledge of China and its potential – so take a look at the RMB Fixed Income Fund for example.

 Here is a top line summary of the recent bad news:

1. At the end of last week Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit ratings of nine Eurozone (EZ) countries, including stripping France and Austria of their AAA rating and taking Portugal down below investment grade. This leaves only four EZ countries with triple A ratings and, as a result, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) was also subsequently deprived of its AAA rating. According to the German newspaper Die Welt, on the back of this, plans to leverage the (EFSF) to up to EUR1.5trn from EUR440bn “are practically dead.”

2. Negotiations between Greece and representatives of private sector creditors broke down at the end of last week, raising concern that there will be a ‘disorderly’ default rather than a managed debt swap in March when Greece is due to repay EUR14.5bn in bond redemptions. This will be impossible unless Greece gets the frozen 7th tranche of the support package from the so-called ‘troika’ (EC, IMF and ECB) which is itself conditional on closing the debt swap. Such a disorderly default would trigger credit default swap contracts, likely creating a new wave of uncertainty and potential contagion in an environment where it would be extremely difficult to compute the impact on individual banks and insurance companies given the integrated nature of financial markets and institutions. Although negotiations have subsequently resumed agreement has still to be reached and, moreover, investors have also come round to the realisation that even a successful conclusion of negotiations on the terms of a swap would still leave open the question of investor participation and the risk that private creditor ‘holdouts’ are subsequently forced into the deal removing any notion that this is a ‘voluntary’ rather than a coercive swap.

3. In the background, global economic growth expectations have been further downgraded recently and now recession in 2012 is the central forecast for the EZ. The World Bank is indicative of the trend: it now believes that the EZ entered recession in Q411 and sees a 0.3% contraction in the bloc’s GDP this year. It has also lowered its US GDP growth forecast to 2.2% in 2012 from 2.9% previously and expects world GDP growth to fall to 2.5% in 2012, down from a forecast for 3.6% growth six months ago. According to the Bank, emerging countries should take steps to plan for a global economic crisis in line with 2008/09 if the EZ Sovereign debt crisis intensifies.

4. Corporate earnings expectations have been downgraded but in spite of this the Q411 US earnings season that began last month has generally been disappointing. According to Bloomberg, in releases thus far fewer S&P 500 companies have beaten analyst earnings expectations than at any time over the last 4 years.

5. China has not been immune from the gloom. GDP growth has decelerated with Q4 growth slowing to 8.9%, the lowest growth rate for ten quarters, increasing concerns about a hard landing in the world’s second largest economy. Property prices in China have also been under downward pressure which continued into December when residential property prices fell more than at any point in the previous 12 months and new home sales fell month-on-month in 52 of 70 cities monitored, adding to concerns that this could have a debilitating effect on the domestic banking system.

 But look through the gloom and focus on valuations

Clearly, this is a substantial raft of bad news to hit the market in a relatively short period of time. But the limited reaction of markets to these events and data releases suggests that it was largely already factored into asset prices. In fact, global equity markets are up year-to-date and most risk assets and currencies have fared reasonably well so far this year in spite of the negative news flow.

Additional evidence that investor expectations have been driven sharply down by negative news is provided by the so-called activity ‘surprise’ indices for the US and the EZ. In both cases the data across a broad range of indicators has generally been coming in better than expected recently, in large measure because expectations have been trashed to such an extent. This is in sharp contrast to the six month period to end September 2011 when the data for the US surprised negatively, a factor that was instrumental in the market selling off over that period. Things could always get worse than currently expected but the negative tone of recent news suggests that there is a lot of angst already factored into asset prices.

In fact, the correlated 2011 sell-off in most risk assets has also created long-term value in a range of fundamentally attractive investments, given that it was based more on risk aversion than deterioration in underlying fundamentals.

In bond markets there would be a preference for corporate over safe haven developed world government bonds. The latter look expensive on fundamentals while companies generally have strong balance sheets, are in many cases cash rich and offer an attractive spread over treasuries and other safe haven government bonds. For the most part, the corporate spread widening in 2011 is not credit specific but a reflection of an absence of risk appetite.

Equity markets are also generally trading cheap to their longer-term valuation averages on a forward PE basis despite, in some cases, big downgrades in earnings forecasts. Not surprisingly, the EZ is the region where there has been the most aggressive downward revisions – by close to 80% on average since June. Most emerging markets earnings growth estimates have also been revised down. For example, earnings estimates for the Indian market have been cut by almost 50% since last June. Moreover, both developed and emerging markets equities look cheap relative to history. For many, emerging and developed markets look appealing and this may be an attractive entry point for exposure to powerful long-term investment themes like emerging consumption and infrastructure spending.

So, if you are in it for the long-term, now could be the right time to get back into the market – although, in the right asset classes, of course. It might be an idea to take a look at an Absolute Return Fund – from the likes of Hendersons.

What is clear is that now, more than ever, it is imperative that you seek professional independent financial advice not just about whether to transfer pension benefits to QROPS, but also about which jurisdiction will be best for that pension in light of proposed changes.

Many individuals find pensions confusing and the global recession and so called “credit crunch” has created a great deal of concern over pension invested funds. This is only compounded when you move overseas as you may also be affected by exchange rate fluctuations.

Well the overseas part shouldn’t worry you, in fact as a result of living overseas there are significant advantages open to you with regard to your UK pension arrangements.

In April 2006 and 2011, UK pension legislation changed allowing persons living outside the UK to transfer their pension assets to an alternate overseas pension scheme. These have been formally named Qualified Recognized Overseas Pension Schemes or QROPS for short.

Although not for everyone, these schemes offer significant flexibility and tax advantages over that as offered by UK sited schemes. By transferring your existing pension assets to a QROPS you could save up to 55% in tax charges on 1st death succession and further 55% on 2nd death succession. In short this means that your heirs will truly benefit from your life time’s work rather than your adopted child the UK chancellor.

In the majority of cases a transfer to an overseas scheme proves to be in the policy holder’s best interest as advantages of transferring to a QROPS include:

· No need to make life long decision now that are locked in
· No requirements to purchase an annuity
· No requirements to pay UK tax charge upon death
· Tax efficiency on Income Drawdown
· Currency hedging (as you could receive your income in the currency of your resident country)
· Better inheritance provisions
· Far greater freedom of investment choices

However, it’s not for everyone and in certain circumstances a transfer could prove to be a disadvantage, such as certain defined benefit schemes. Also be aware that some companies and individuals claim that you can 100% commute your pension by transferring to such jurisdictions as New Zealand.

Whilst this is possible you need to be aware of the possible implications of such transfers. For example some claim that this can be done “tax free”.  If by “tax free” they mean there are no taxes to pay in New Zealand, then they are correct. However the tax position in either the UK or Spain may differ considerably. Indeed the legislation that allowed this is set to change with reforms to the UK Financial Act planned for April 2012. These changes will put a stop to this practice which will in turn provide greater consumer protection.

In short before embarking on an overseas pension transfer ensure that you are talking to a trusted and regulated company and that you are made “fully” aware of the implications should you return to the UK and as such your tax liabilities.

To find out more please contact me on 0034 952 816 443  or 0034 622 345 558 or simply email me at david.rogers@blacktowerfm.com

There are a substantial number of Expats living in Spain that may not be aware of certain advantages open to them purely as a result of the fact that they live here.

For example did you know that you can be protected from the European Savings Directives rules on Withholding Tax, which is a tax levied on growth from savings or investments?

To avoid paying witholding tax you can take advantage of the favorable way in which Spain looks at collective investments. In this regard it is possible for a person who lives in Spain to open what are generally known as Spanish Compliant Bonds or Wrappers, these are extremely tax efficient vehicles for holding invested funds and cash.

For example: If you held funds on deposit in the general banking system or you have funds invested in non-compliant products, under the European Savings Directive, any growth obtained is subject to withholding tax.

The current rate of withholding tax is 19%. (This is tax law and is always charged on growth, although not readily explained by the banking system or many off-shore providers.

What does that mean? Well as an example if you had €100,000 either on deposit or in certain non-compliant off-shore structures and you obtained growth of say 10%, giving you €110,000 then there would be a 19% tax charge applied to the (€10,000) growth element only.

This would result in withholding tax charge of €1900. This applies no matter whether you touch the original amount or the growth element or not. In other words tax on the growth is unavoidable.

Unless you take advantage of a Spanish Compliant Portfolio Bond/Wrapper, in which case, the tax treatment is far more favorable.

In this case if the €100,000 had grown to €110,000 and the policy owner decided NOT to touch the investment at all, then there would be NO tax to pay. This is known as tax free role up, because the policy owner can now get growth on the tax that they would have paid if it had been in the banking system and/or in non-complaint off-shore structures.

Furthermore, should the policy owner wish to drawdown from the policy a Spanish Compliant Portfolio Bond/Wrapper also provides an extremely favorable tax position for the policy holder.

In this case for example, if the policy holder wished to take the whole growth (€10,000) then this would be treated as follows:

Of the €10,000 withdrawn, €9,000 would be treated as Return of Capital, and be exempt from tax (zero tax to pay) and the remaining €1,000 would be taxed as investment income which is levied at 19% for the first €6000 and 21% thereafter. So in the case it is possible for the policy holder to get hold of €10,000 with all taxes paid for only €190 or 1.9% in tax. Or put another way he/she would have saved €1,710 in tax charges alone.

There is not a more favorable (legal) way of dealing with invested funds and as such this should be, at least, considered as an option for anyone living in Spain or anyone that has funds invested in either the banking system or in non-complaint investment portfolios.

In this regard many Expats living in Spain have been sold and/or invested in non-complaint “off-shore” products, so if you have funds invested in this manner its worth establishing of they are Spanish Compliant or not as you may be paying taxes that could be avoided.

In part of the Spanish Tax Advantage we will cover tax efficient pension planning for expats.

To find out more about the Spanish Tax Advantage, please contact me on 0034 952 816 443  or 0034 622 345 558 or simply email me at david.rogers@blacktowerfm.com

The previous PSOE Government, made a temporary amendment to the personal income tax law in Spain, before the recent General Elections, that could leave investors in non-tax-compliant offshore bonds facing a higher tax bill in 2014. Whilst many though that the newly elected PP Government would reverse this, this has not been the case.

On 1 January, the Spanish personal income tax regime was temporarily modified resulting in a rise in income tax for 2012 and 2013. While the changes will have “little or no impact” on those who hold tax-compliant offshore bond policies until at least 2014, normally issued out of jurisdictions like Dublin, those using non-compliant tax-compliant products will pay up to 3% more each year in tax both this year and next.

So what does this mean? Well Skandia have said that from the 1 January this year to the end of 2013, gains on tax-compliant offshore bonds will be taxed at a rate of 21% (as opposed to the normal rate of 19%) which is then withheld by tax-compliant providers. There will be no further personal income tax liability for the policyholder if the gains amount to less than €6,000 (£4,981, $7,661) savings income in a tax year – including interest earned on savings accounts and dividends received in the same tax year. A further 4% personal income tax liability will need to be accounted for by the policyholder on the next €18,000 savings income and a further 6% if the overall savings income for that tax year is above €24,000.  If the policy suffers a loss over the tax period, the loss can be offset against other income tax liabilities.

In contrast, non-tax-compliant policies are required to withhold tax every year and so will be further affected by the increase during the next two years. Skandia also went on to advise that, in instances where the provider of a non-compliant policy fails to withhold tax correctly, and in a timely manner, policyholders may become subject to penalties for non-reporting, and these can range from 50% to 150%.

However, Skandia conceded that non tax-compliant policies have their merits as such policies can offer other features which can make them attractive to certain types of investors – for example, by providing access to a wider investment universe of assets and the ability offset losses on an annual basis.

What is clear is that in today’s world, the choices available to investors can be overwhelming. It is crucial investors understand the implications of choosing the right product in order to utilise the available tax advantages to the full.

For example, tax-compliant bonds reduce the burden of reporting on individuals classed as tax-resident in Spain and can be affected by changes in tax regimes to a lesser degree than non tax-complaint alternatives. The recent changes introduced on 1st January 2012 illustrate these advantages perfectly.

But please don’t make a ‘hasty’ decision without first reviewing what you have and the tax implications with a qualified financial adviser.

Please see the pdf version for the full statement and if you have any queries or would like further information, please email info@blacktowerfm.com  http://www.blacktowerfm.co.uk/images/uploads/Autumn2011statement.pdf

Equity Release to Assist Retirement Planning

 Home Benefits

There is a considerable amount of “unmortgaged equity” sitting in the properties of those that are retired, or nearing retirement due to property price rises over the last couple of decades.

Also, this age group may be getting (or may get) less than they hoped for from their savings, or pension, and with increasing longevity, along with the Government making it clear that the State will not be able to provide all-encompassing retirement funding, other options may need to be considered.

Where Equity Release Could Help

If you fall into this age group, then releasing equity from your home may deliver the additional income you need to meet bills, pay off debts, maintain your home, or simply achieve your retirement goals. Even if you do have enough in savings or a sizeable pension, it may deliver a way to provide financial support to your children and grandchildren, whilst you are still around to see them benefit from it.

With loans from around £10,000 and upwards, Equity Release may well offer options for those that may be keen to turn some (or all) of the equity in their property into cash.

 Consider the Alternatives

However, opting for an Equity Release plan is a major undertaking – and may require the input of other family members, as it can affect their future inheritance.

You should also consider if other financial routes are better for you.  For example, if you want to extract the full value of your property, you may need to sell up and consider moving to a cheaper home and release equity that way.

Options for You

There are a multitude of reasons why people will opt for Equity Release, such as to maintain their standard of living; home improvements; pay bills/clear debts; and mortgage repayment.  On top of this, there’s sure to be those that will also want money for the luxury items, such as a “once in a lifetime” holiday, or to help out their family.

There are two main types of Equity Release scheme:

Lifetime Mortgages & Home Reversion Plans 

To fully understand the benefits and pitfalls of Equity Release, you need to take advice from your financial adviser, your solicitor, possibly your accountant, and quite likely, involve members of your family too.  It's a pretty complex area, but one that we're familiar with so do get in touch to find out more.  So why not on + 44 1372 844344 or email:  info@blacktowerfm.com

For Equity Release, we can be paid by commission or if you elect to pay us a fee for arranging finance, our fee will be 1% of the advance with a minimum of £750.00.  We only recommend home reversion schemes from members of Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) and their code of practice includes the valuation “no negative equity” guarantee.  To understand the features and risks of a home reversion plan, ask for a personalised illustration.

http://www.international-adviser.com/article/the-top-ten-worst-mistakes-made-by-expats

What does this mean for you?

The legislation will be introduced in a staged process, dependent on the size of employer and type of scheme.

You can use an existing scheme to meet the new requirements; however it will have to meet certain qualifying criteria:

• The scheme must permit auto-enrolment
• Employees must be auto-enrolled within three months of joining tytthe company (but they can opt in before this waiting period is over)
• A default investment fund must be offered
• Delivers a minimum contribution rate (at the end of the phasing in period) of 3% of qualifying earnings for employers, and a total of 8% including employee contributions and tax relief.

These changes raise a number of specific issues which could have a financial impact on your business, depending on how close your present scheme is to meeting the new requirements:

• The minimum contribution may be higher than you are currently paying, and may be calculated on a different basis.
• It is likely that automatic enrolment will substantially increase membership of many pension schemes
• There is an optional waiting period of up to three months before an employee needs to be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. Employees can, however, opt in during this period and employers have to start contributions.

We want to make things easier for you

Now is the time to start making preparations for the changes.  We can look in detail how close your existing scheme (if you have one) is to meeting the new requirements, or if you need to put a new scheme in place and also what the financial impact will be on your business and steps you can take to minimise this impact.

Call 01372 844344 and talk to one of our Pension Consultants for more information.

Blacktower Financial Management (International) Ltd has launched an IFA support network designed to help other European advisory firms handle their growing regulatory compliance requirements.

The Group Managing Director, John Westwood said the network, known as Nexus Global (NXG) will enable firms to keep their branding and identity, while taking advantage of Blacktower’s established licensing and compliance structures.

Paul Brown, Chairman of Netherlands-based WorldWide Broker has also been working with John Westwood in setting up Nexus Global and is on the NXG management committee.

Five affiliate organisations have so far signed up with Nexus, while a further five are going through the application process.  It is hoped to have a network of between 10 and 15 affiliates by the end of the year.

The Nexus Global website address is:  www.nexus-global.net where further information can be found of its services.

On the 27^th May 2011, Blacktower acquired Ritchie Salkeld & Company LLP.  Ritchie Salkeld has now become the Managing Director of Blacktower Financial Management Limited in the UK and also undertakes the responsibility for Compliance & Money Laundering for the UK Company.  Ritchie will be assisting the other members of the Board in running the UK operation and making sure Blacktower are ready and prepared for RDR.

Ritchie and the UK board will continue to report to the Group Managing Director John Westwood

Ritchie has vast experience within Financial Services, having already completed 38 years, during which time he held a number of very senior positions with what are now called product providers.  About 27 years ago he was one of the earliest IFA members of NASDIM, who ultimately became FIMBRA, the PIA and then the FSA.

For the past 17 years, he has very successfully run Ritchie Salkeld & Co (now LLP) and brings with him a wealth of experience and very established and loyal clientele.

Ritchie has know Blacktower pretty well since it was first formed and has a close association with the Westwood family and Paula Smith.

What to do with our hard-earned savings. We spend all these years building our nest-egg only to see interest rates on offer below the rate of inflation, volatility in the markets and sovereign debt all over the place. So where do I go to get some solid growth these days?

Global - The growth outlook in major industrialised nations is diverging, with activity improving in North America, China and Russia, and moderating in most European countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) leading indicator for March showed on Monday. The OECD said its composite leading indicator for member countries rose to 103.2 points in March from 103.0 in February, well above a long-term average of 100.  The indicator showed "regained momentum in economic activity" in China and Canada while the U.S., Germany and Russia were also in the midst of above-trend expansion.

China - China's consumer price index (CPI) inflation in April was down on March but has still exceeded the official government target of 4%, according to the latest results from the country's statistics bureau. The 5.3percent year on year rise was down only slightly on the 5.4% number in March. The figure has lead to fresh speculation that China may be forced once again to raise interest rates. The People's Bank of China has already hiked rates four times since October 2010 in a bid to gain control over a perceived overheating of the economy. The rate on one-year deposits is currently 3.25%, while the lending rate remains at 6.31%

India- India's industrial production grew at the fastest pace in five months, underscoring the central bank's concerns that consumer demand is stoking inflation. Output at factories, utilities and mines rose 7.3% in March from a year earlier after a revised 3.7%gain in February, the commerce ministry said in a statement in New Delhi.  The Reserve Bank of India last week boosted interest rates for the ninth time in 15 months to damp price gains that are the highest among Asia's major economies. The International Monetary Fund, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG expect India's expansion to ease this year because of monetary tightening. "The RBI is focused at the moment on curbing demand to stem inflation," Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist at Credit Suisse in Singapore, said before the report. "Rising rates will ease demand and slow growth."

Germany - German exports surged in March to their highest level since records began, as the growing global economy lifted demand for its products and services. The country's exports for the month totalled EUR98.3bn, 7.3%higher than February. Its imports also reached an all-time high, up 3.1% to EUR79.4bn. Both imports and exports are the highest since data started to be collected in 1950.
Germany is the world's second-largest exporter.

Greece - Rating agencies are united in their negative outlook on Greece as Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch all made further negative comment about the country's continued inability to repay its debt. At the end of last week, S&P's went as far as downgrading Greece's long and short-term sovereign credit to B from C, and from BB- to B respectively, following comments from its Labour Minister that it will not be able to raise funds with new bond issues next year, as it is required to by the terms of its bailout package. Fitch has retained its negative outlook for Greece, which has consistently failed to meet the agreed terms of its rescue package, while Moody's is making more negative noises placing its B1 local and foreign currency government bond ratings on review for possible downgrade. A debt restructure is now seen by many as inevitable, partly to keep German consumers and voters happy, though S&P's has already warned that any such voluntary restructure will be seen as a default.

U.S. - U.S. exports set a record in March, buoyed by the weak U.S. dollar and strengthening global demand as U.S. trade flows returned to levels last seen before the global financial crisis. U.S. exports grew 4.6percent in March to USD172.7bn, surpassing the record set in July 2008 before world trade took a sharp downturn. The March export rise was the biggest month-to-month gain in 17 years, the Commerce Department said in a report on Wednesday. "It's taken two-and-a-half years, but the level of exports has finally returned to pre-recession levels," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist with Capital Economics in Toronto.

Commodities - Gold and silver dropped, as the dollar advanced against major currencies, reducing demand for precious metals as an alternative investment.
Immediate-delivery gold fell as much as 0.7% to USD1,491.30 an ounce. "Gold is coming under pressure as the dollar is gaining some ground," said Ong Yi Ling, Singapore-based analyst with Phillip Futures Pte. "The trend for precious metals in the short term is still bearish."

Spotlight on: value in Europe
Investors should stop focusing on the sovereign debt crisis and build up their exposure to undervalued equities on the continent, according to Adrian Bignell, manager of the Invesco Perpetual European Opportunities fund.

"I think it is important that investors keep economics and investment separate. Everything that is going on in the economies of Ireland, Portugal and Spain has little bearing on the outlook for the European equity market," said Bignell.

"Media headlines about the sovereign debt crisis are very discouraging, but in reality European companies are on a par with those in the U.K. and U.S., at a much cheaper price." "Profit margins are above expectations, balance sheets are strong, and crucially stocks are available on a big discount, European equities are trading around 10.5 times earnings, compared with 14 times from the U.S.," he added.

According to Financial Express data, Invesco Perpetual European Opportunities has decreased its exposure to international equities in favour of the European market in the last six months. In October 2010 the fund's exposure to European equities was 63%, this figure is now just under 90%

Bignell says he has hedged his portfolio against the downside risks associated with the sovereign debt crisis by avoiding direct exposure to the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) economies and decreasing his exposure to financials. The fund was overweight in banking stocks in the spring of 2009 as a short-term play, but financials now account for only 7% of the portfolio. Invesco Perpetual European Opportunities has outperformed its IMA Europe ex UK sector by just under 19% in the last three years, albeit with significantly more volatility.

Bignell is particularly positive about Germany, which has a regional weighting of 23%in his portfolio. "Low interest rates and a weak currency are favourable for German exports, which are booming at the moment," he explained.

According to official statistics, only China made more money from exports than Germany in 2010.The manager also favours the small and mid cap markets over large caps, even though some commentators fear the out-performance of smaller companies may be coming to an end.

He commented: "We believe the best growth opportunities are still in the small and mid cap markets. Many large cap companies are attractively priced, particularly those in the pharmaceutical and industrial sector that are yielding up to 5%. However, smaller companies have better pricing power, and economic policy has less of an impact on them."

'This facility is not suitable for all expatriates, and we recommend that advice is sought before one makes any commitment.  As an Independent Financial Adviser, Blacktower seeks to ensure that our clients receive the advice suitable for their specific circumstances.  Please contact us for further details 289 355 685' 

Chartered Status is the professions' gold standard for a Financial Planner.

This qualification is the equivalent of a Bachelor's Degree.

All Chartered Financial Planners operate under an additional code of ethics, which is supported by all of us at Blacktower.