http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/19d6e46c-cd97-11df-9c82-00144feab49a.html One in four hedge fund employees have left London to move to Switzerland, where the tax regime is considered more stable, according to the consultancy Kinetic partners. The departure of two industry leaders – Alan Howard, founder of Brevan Howard, Europe’s biggest hedge fund, and Mike Platt, founder of BlueCrest Capital, the third... [more]
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/19d6e46c-cd97-11df-9c82-00144feab49a.html
One in four hedge fund employees have left London to move to Switzerland, where the tax regime is considered more stable, according to the consultancy Kinetic partners.
The departure of two industry leaders – Alan Howard, founder of Brevan Howard, Europe’s biggest hedge fund, and Mike Platt, founder of BlueCrest Capital, the third biggest – will cost the Revenue £200m, according to a Financial Times analysis of their funds’ accounts. Both men declined to comment.
The pair moved to Geneva this year alongside teams of top traders who will also have paid tens of millions in tax each year while based in the UK.
Hedge funds such as Brevan Howard and BlueCrest assiduously avoid publicity, but in correspondence with investors, both have cited the threat of onerous new rules from the European Union and the desire to remain internationally competitive as reasons for moving.
The trigger for the departure of many hedge fund managers was the introduction this year of the 50 per cent tax rate on earnings above £150,000. But increasingly, they also complain about political attacks and regulatory uncertainty.
According to the government’s own estimates, one-quarter of all income tax received this year will be paid for by top earners subject to the new 50p tax rate.
But the Treasury has acknowledged that the higher rate will yield less than one-third of initial projections, because of people moving overseas and the reluctance of high earners to come to the UK.
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