Will a turbulent pound drive pension pots overseas?

The observation comes four months since the vote to leave the EU, during which sterling has fallen in value by 14.5% against the euro and 18% against the US dollar.

This turbulence is likely to continue, according to deVere, as there are "still no definitive answers to the important questions about Britain’s future relationship with Europe or the rest of the world".

There are currently an estimated 312,000 British retirees living in the U.S. who will have taken an 18% hit to their UK pension incomes since the referendum.

deVere says it has received a 21% hike in global enquiries and is highlighting the benefits of transferring a UK pension into a QROPS to eliminate the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.
 
Nigel Green, founder and chief executive of deVere Group, commented: “The plummeting value of sterling has an important negative impact for the millions of Britons overseas who live off a fixed income from Britain, such as a UK pension. The cost of living becomes more expensive and a proportion of their disposable income is eroded away.
 
“Brexit is biting those abroad with a British pension. Therefore, they are, sensibly, considering their options about how to Brexit-proof their retirement incomes.
 
“We’ve experienced a 21% hike in global enquiries about moving British pensions out of the UK since the Leave campaign was victorious. The enquiries are from those already living outside the UK and from people currently in the UK planning to retire abroad.
 
“This considerable surge potentially represents hundreds of millions of pounds of retirement funds leaving the UK as people seek to safeguard their retirement funds by transferring them into a secure, regulated, English-speaking jurisdiction outside Britain.
 
“Given the ongoing and growing Brexit fallout, we expect the trend for people seeking advice on overseas pensions transfers to gain momentum over the next couple of years and beyond.”