James Haithwaite

James joined IQ-EQ in 2017 and has more than 30 years’ experience in the trust and fiduciary industry, having worked in both bank-owned and independent trust companies.

Located in Jersey, James heads up the collector car services sector within the global IQ-EQ Private & Institutional Asset Owners segment as part of the wider Luxury Asset Team.

As well as managing traditional fiduciary assets as part of a family offering, his role has evolved into providing – uniquely from a fiduciary platform – expert independent services to collectors looking to acquire, maintain, restore, transport and exhibit their collector cars, as these vehicles have become a separate asset class in their own right.

James is also on the board of a collector car fund, which is the first of its kind. IQ-EQ is ideally placed to service this type of structure, due to its strong fund administration offering, together with collector cars as an asset fund. Often, collectors require the assets to be held within a structure; however, James frequently assists with consultancy work wherein IQ-EQ provides non-broker, independent consultancy services surrounding the asset class. Such consultancy work is available not only to collectors themselves for certain projects – such as putting together a selection of cars to suit the individual client – but also to intermediaries who may require assistance with the asset class on a one-off or ongoing basis. James frequently works with collectors looking to hold cars outside of their residency. For example, in Asia, importation taxes are prohibitive for high-value cars to be held in these jurisdictions. In such circumstances, James is responsible for obtaining appropriate tax advice, storage, insurance and the safe transportation of the cars worldwide for use by the ultimate owner. The service is also beneficial to Middle Eastern, European and US clients, and is becoming increasingly popular.

● James recently assisted clients who were moving country and required help transferring their assets into a cross-border jurisdiction;

● James has also worked closely with an intermediary who approached him regarding the real-life considerations around retaining or liquidating a car collection upon the passing of a collector, as well as assisting the next generation with the asset class.