France Financial Advice
Published / Last Updated on 16/05/2023
We have currently suspended offering financial advice to residents in France on UK pensions and investments.
We no longer offer financial advice to:
- Citizens of the UK who live in France.
- Citizens of the UK who live in the UK but want advice on investments or property in France.
- Citizens of France who live in the UK.
We are sorry but we also cannot help:
- Citizens of France who live in France and have investments or property in France.
- Citizens of France who do not live in the UK but have investments or property in the UK.
Brexit: If You Live Outside UK
We are a UK registered business, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. We are fully insured for advice that we give from the UK to clients all over the world. That said, we are not authorised outside the United Kingdom and as such, new products and services are usually only available for UK residents. We are also no longer authorised in the European Union under financial services ‘passporting’ given Brexit.
That said, there are many British Expats and Foreign Nationals living all over the world that have existing pensions, investments, financial or tax interests in the UK. Your local adviser, where you live, is unlikely to be authorised in the UK meaning they cannot advise on your existing UK interests and likewise, we are not authorised to give advice on new pensions and investments where you live.
EU Residents and Brexit e.g., France
The Brexit Trade Agreement did not include financial services passporting although it was supposed to. Negotiations are ongoing with regard to ‘Equivalency’ on financial services with 5 X Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) agreed in January 2021. MOUs are essentially ‘agreements to reach an agreement’ only. One of the MOU’s between UK and EU regulators confirms that they are working towards ‘delegated authority’ where if an EU resident has a UK pension/investment, then respective EU advisers are not authorised to advice on unless they have set up a UK branch with FCA authorisation in UK and therefore advice will need to be delivered by a UK authorised IFA. This is where EU regulators delegate their authority to the UK FCA to oversee and regulate the advice on a UK pension/investment.
Given the ‘state of flux’ we are all in as negotiations continue, technically, we are no longer authorised in EU (for the time being). Fish, wine, cheese, and cars are no problem, but finance is a ‘no’ at present. We do not ‘solicit’ or promote services to EU residents, but we will accept ‘Reverse Solicitation’ i.e. you approach us to help you with existing UK taxes, investments, or pensions only. We will not advise on or arrange 'new money' investments for you, but we will advise on existing UK arrangements that are then actioned/transferred/amended within the UK. Given this, and until an agreement is reached on Equivalency and Delegated Authority, we will offer the technical advice from the UK on your UK pensions, investments, and tax with our requirement that you also take advice locally in the EU to oversee any actions at 'your end' to ensure tax compliance and reporting requirements with EU authorities. You should also be aware that there are even greater restrictions for residents of France. No Fishing Rights = No Finance in France, although they are softening their position to that of other EU authorities where things appear to continue as they were with EU regulators happy that the FCA oversees any UK advice on existing UK products and services.
Please note we have written confirmation from both our professional insurers and the FCA that all advice that we offer must be offered and delivered from the UK, under FCA regulatory rules and FCA protection and that we are permitted to advise people anywhere in the World according to the UK regulator, but we must check if there are any regulatory restrictions where a client lives. In short, we would normally offer advice as if you were resident in the UK and provided that you and your EU adviser check with your EU regulator that they are happy for us to continue UK advice for you in tandem with your local adviser ensuring tax compliance and reporting requirements with EU authorities. We will require this in writing from your EU regulator/your EU adviser.
We already have permissions from as far away as USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, etc., even the Ascension Islands would you believe? Within the EEA we have permissions from Germany, Hungary, Spain, Ireland and Switzerland. France is something of a joke at present given the number of expats living in France and we are still awaiting replies from Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, and Sweden’s regulators. That said, we will still require you to take local advice on top of anything we do for you in the UK (if anything).
Our Videos on Current Situation in France - we suggest you watch the two following videos we have made about France and Financial Services:
Watch: French Resident, Brexit, and UK Policies Set Up Before January 2021
Watch: French Resident, Brexit, and UK Policies Set Up From January 2021
Based upon the above, and our understanding, you need to check the above videos and then possibly check with the French regulator as we cannot offer any new solutions outside your existing pension or investment provider currently under French restrictions but flexibly drawing down some or indeed 100% of pension funds (if you really want to) should be OK from existing pensions scheme provided it is already in the contract rules.
