The regulators of South Korea are to be the latest to implement the AFRP, an initiative that strives to combine the fund markets of Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Thailand. 'D-Day' is timed for 27 May.

There are several ways in which the UK funds’ industry could strengthen its distribution footprint in key APAC markets, according to the think tank. One is to create a UK-branded fund structure that might compete with Europe's UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investments in Trusts and Securities) or its AIFMD (the Alternative Investment Fund Mangers' Directive) on a global scale.

To make such a structure attractive to APAC investors, the NCI suspects that the UK ought to simplify its existing 'tax treatment' rules for foreign investors, quoting a Far Eastern lawyer as saying: “The UK unit trust and open ended investment company (OEIC) never took off in APAC because the UK tax regime is too complicated, whereas Luxembourg and Ireland are more straightforward. If a UK fund structure is to succeed, it must be tax neutral just as it is in the Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Ireland, or Luxembourg.”

The think tank believes that the less comprehensive Britain's eventual trade deal with the European Union is, the more likely this is to happen.