I am about to apply to open an International SIPP in the UK using my address in Thailand as confirmed by a bank statement from SCB. The ISIPP will be funded by a transfer of a policy held at pension company in the UK. The ISIPP provider does an electronic ID check through credit check/fraud prevention agency (like Cifas).

I believe UK high street banks are notified by Cifas and other agencies periodically of all checks carried out and can match names to their customers perhaps by name, NI number & DoB. I have kept a UK address for my UK banks like many contributors do here. Does anyone have experience of being contacted in other affairs following an application or ID check based on their Thai address? Were there any consequences for use of your bank accounts or other affairs in the UK?

I would far prefer to draw my pension direct to a UK bank, or to SCB here, but the pension company will not allow drawdown by a non resident. The choice is 100% payout now, transfer to a ISIPP, or wait until return to UK to validate a UK residence check by utility bills, and electoral register. I am registered on the UK electoral register here as an overseas voter ready for the ID check (& without any banking consequence so far).

Thanks for your thoughts & KR

My thoughts,

Transferring your protected pension fund in the UK to any organisation outside the UK is madness.

The foreign advisors are ALL crooks working illegally in foreign countries.

They will mercilessly churn your funds and invest in bankrupt companies giving them backhanders.

Not to mention the UK pension companies only accept UK credit checks as proof of ID.

Name of Isipp provider and country , along with name of managemant firm and country, and financial advisor and country all relevant. General con game is to split all 3 to 3 different countries so you have no legal recourse after your pension money is stolen.

For example, IFA in Thailand (crook if not Thai), Management in UK, and ISIPP in Isle or Man = no recourse in law.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Transferring your protected pension fund in the UK to any organisation outside the UK is madness.

I had not heard (or had forgotten) about ISIPPs and after reading had a quick search.

Apparently still under FCA rules and registered in the UK -

https://www.expertsforexpats.com/advice/expat-money-and-finance/sipps-non-uk-residents-expats

https://pccwealth.com/what-is-an-international-sipp/

And supposedly one of the leading offerings -

https://www.thewealthgenesis.com/insights/novia-global-review

Apologies to the OP but I know nothing about effects of credit checks. It is a travesty that your current provider cannot (will not) offer drawdown to a non-resident. Will no other providers allow you to transfer - Eg. last time I looked Interactive Investor had an extra monthly charge for non-residents?

Was taking an annuity an option (bearing in mind changes to treatment of pension pots for IHT from next year) ?

Hi both,

Britmantoo - Thanks for your forthright response. I get the point., thanks but in this case the ISIPP provider is based in the UK and regulated by FCA. I have checked that funds held will be ringfenced from the operating entity and are guaranteed under financial compensation scheme up to 85k as a normal deposit would be.

Their USP is offering a service to non resident/expats to hold investments in a range of funds very similar to those offered by a UK based SIPP (picking illustrative examples from their list : Aberdeen Mid-Cap Equity I Acc, Blackrock World Mining Trust plc or HSBC FTSE 100 Index Fund Dist - with most of the large names one might expect). Topt picked out the leader in the ISIPP market, Novia Global, that has a similar regulatory structure but is accessible only via a Financial Advisor

The attraction for me is of ISIPP is to be able to drawdown in different tax years amounts of my choosing rather than having to receive the whole fund in one go, taxed at higher rates tax in the UK, and then have the net cash received subject to scrutiny of amounts moved from my Thai bank over the relatively low threshold here (is it 50,000 baht?)

topt - the company currently holding my pension refuses the offer of any "financial product" because of non residence including annuities. They won't even hold cash, its either keeping the fund with them OR distribution of the whole lot in one go. Thanks for your comment about the credit agency check aspect, I just don't know how it might affect my UK banking. I might be overthinking it but an AI query says there is a regular sweep of data and specific events like running an ID check. The power of AI marches on, just wait for facial recognition to be the universal key.

I'm inclined to give it a go and see what happens but comments if anyone has prior experience of UK banks catching on to them being resident here might help! KR

9 hours ago, 503726 said:

The attraction for me is of ISIPP is to be able to drawdown in different tax years amounts of my choosing rather than having to receive the whole fund in one go, taxed at higher rates tax in the UK, and then have the net cash received subject to scrutiny of amounts moved from my Thai bank over the relatively low threshold here (is it 50,000 baht?)

I used a pal in the UKs address to open an account with Hargreaves Lansdown, moved a pension into cash with them, and didn't invest at all, just cash deposit with drawdown each year until it was gone.

HL is the one and only company that didn't try to steal from my pension.

I use my parents address with my UK Bank (it was they who suggested I did when they moved they moved me to Singapore).

Pensions started in Feb & I was told that they would be running Credit/Electoral role checks (all of my Credit addresses are at my parents address, I'm still registered on the electoral role at my house in the UK) so I did have some concerns but in the end it was nothing to worry about. I honestly think they're looking more for the potential of somebody trying to steal your pension than to confirm you live there, if you have enough history/ties to that address I think you'll be fine.

In my case both my pensions (from the same bank that told me to use my parents address) were paid out as I wanted... Took a small Defined Contribution pension in cash though could have taken drawdown/UFPLS & took 25% PCLS from the Defined Benfit pension, no worries at all apart from the emergency tax code I got hit with on the DC withdrawal.

If it were me I'd go with the approach of giving it a go & seeing what happens (that's what I did) end of the day it's your pension, they can't take it off you + I'm sure there's a pension company in the UK that will accept a transfer in & allow you to draw down on it as you want (Have you looked at Interational Investors)?

Might be worth a chat with Pensionwise (Free UK Gov Service)? I found their advice very useful when trying to decide what to do with my DC pension.

Best of luck.

Thanks all.