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UK wealth managers say enquiries from US-based investors worried by the actions of Donald Trump and his administration and seeking to move money from the country have risen markedly.
Rathbones, RBC Brewin Dolphin, Evelyn Partners and Schroders Cazenove told the Financial Times that more US clients were looking to move a greater portion of their wealth to the UK, while others had already done so.
Toby Glover, chief executive of London-based Schroders US Wealth Management, said there had been “a significant increase in new client enquiries, and assets”, over the past year with “a very noticeable uptick over the first three months of this year”.
Nick Ritchie, senior director at RBC Wealth Management, said the number of enquiries from US clients was “markedly higher” compared with Trump’s first term in office. US clients were looking to move “between 5 and 50 per cent” of their wealth to be managed in the UK or the Channel Islands, he added, with most at the lower end of the scale.
The moves were driven by “safety and security concerns” he said, adding that he had “a couple of wealthy clients who have taken that one step further and moved assets into trust rather than hold in personal names . . . it adds an extra layer of protection”.
“It’s their getaway money” said James Blosse-Lynch, investment director at Rathbones.
“I had a client the other day who repositioned his money to put a quarter of it over here [managed by Rathbones in the UK] whereas before it was a much smaller amount,” he said, adding that it was still “early days” in the new presidency but that discussions with other clients were “gathering momentum”.
On Wednesday the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on US imports. The market response wiped $5.4tn off US stocks over the following two days.
“There’s a growing concern that the president is operating further and further outside the existing rules and conventions, and could change legislation affecting the ability of investors to invest in foreign markets and currencies,” said Roy Clouse, senior investment director at Canaccord Wealth.
The surge of US interest comes as other wealthy individuals have been leaving Britain after the government abolished the “non-dom” system that offered lower taxes to people who are not UK domiciled but live in the country.
“Most of the wealthy international folk are moving away from the UK but we’ve definitely had more queries from Americans,” said Nick Reeves, a financial planner at Evelyn Partners. He added that he had one client who wanted to move assets out of the US legal system to buy UK property in case there were asset seizures.
In place of non-dom status, new UK residents will be exempt from tax on foreign income and gains for their first four years, provided they have been non-resident for the past ten years.
After four years they have to pay tax on worldwide income and gains. Some advisers think people are using the UK as a stop-gap while they work out a longer-term plan.
“The UK may be acting as something of a car park,” Ritchie said, adding that clients were exploring moving to Italy, Switzerland and Dubai but “parking in the UK for a period as they explore other options”.
