QAHCs and UK securitisation companies: awkward bedfellows?

The qualifying asset holding company (QAHC) regime is shaping up to become a genuine competitor to Luxembourg and Irish holding companies. Previously, other than a normally taxed UK company, the main UK asset holding company option for loans and other financial products was a UK securitisation company taxed under the Taxation of Securitisation Companies Regulations, SI 2006/3296 (TSCR 2006). However, the TSCR 2006 rules give rise to some practical difficulties when applied outside the context of a more traditional securitisation (for example, within a credit fund). The QAHC regime is broader and potentially simpler than the securitisation regime, but comes with its own challenges, and we are now left with two regimes that sit awkwardly beside (and slightly on top of) one another.