The short answer

Novia Global is a UK-founded international investment platform for British expats, available through financial advisers, with a typical starting point of around £50,000. It gives access to more than 7,000 investments — funds, ETFs, shares, bonds, discretionary managers and model portfolios — held in pounds, dollars, euros and other currencies. Its UK SIPP for expats has no set-up charge, a £240 yearly trustee fee and a platform fee of 0.34% a year that reduces as the pension grows, and offers flexi-access drawdown to non-UK residents. For many expats with UK pensions, it's an attractive alternative to an overseas pension transfer, which now carries a 25% charge for most people living in Thailand. Lawrence offers a free review to help you decide.

Who Novia Global is

Novia Global Limited is a UK company, registered in England and Wales, with its registered office in Bath. It set out to give British expats and their advisers the kind of modern investment platform UK investors take for granted at home — one account, a wide choice of investments, online access and professional management options — without the restrictions that often come with living abroad.

The idea dates back to 2015, when Novia Global announced an offshore version of its platform to give expats greater access to discretionary fund managers and offshore funds. Since then it has grown into a group with more than £2 billion of assets under administration, led by chief executive Steve Andrews. In June 2025 it launched Novia Global Europe, a platform based in Cyprus for advisers serving clients in Europe.

Like most international platforms, Novia Global works through financial advisers rather than directly with the public. The adviser recommends the investments, sets up the account and manages the relationship; Novia Global provides the platform, administration, custody and reporting. Your assets are held separately from the company's own assets.

Novia Global at a glance

The platform brings these together in one place, so an adviser can hold a client's pension, investments and even an offshore bond on the same platform, with a single view of everything.

The international investment platform

At its heart, Novia Global is an investment platform: an account in which your investments are bought, held, valued and reported. Its strengths are choice and flexibility.

Choice

With more than 7,000 investment options, the platform covers mainstream funds, exchange-traded funds, shares, bonds and ethical investments, plus access to discretionary fund managers and model portfolios. That lets an adviser build anything from a low-cost portfolio of global index funds to a fully managed, bespoke portfolio.

Currencies

The platform supports holdings in several currencies — pounds, US dollars, euros and others — so your investments can match where you'll spend the money. For expats in Thailand, that might mean pounds for UK pension money and a possible return home, and dollars for global investments, moving into baht as needs approach.

Wrappers

Alongside general investment accounts and the SIPP, Novia Global can hold offshore bond wrappers, giving advisers a way to combine the tax features of a bond with the flexibility of a platform.

Responsible investing

For investors who want their money to reflect their values, the platform includes ethical and responsible investment options alongside mainstream funds — so a portfolio can avoid particular industries or favour companies with strong environmental and social records, without giving up diversification.

Professional management

If you'd rather not make day-to-day investment decisions, a discretionary fund manager can run your portfolio on the platform within a risk level agreed with your adviser, rebalancing and adjusting as markets change. Model portfolios offer a simpler, lower-cost version of the same idea.

Access

The platform is accessed through financial advisers, typically for portfolios from around £50,000. Advisers and clients get online access to valuations and reporting.

The Novia Global UK SIPP for expats

For many British expats, the most valuable part of Novia Global is its UK Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). A SIPP is a UK pension that gives you control over how your money is invested. Novia Global's version is designed for people living abroad.

Key features, as published by Harrison Brook in 2025:

• No set-up charge.
• A £240 yearly trustee fee.
• A platform fee of 0.34% a year, reducing as the pension grows.
• Discretionary managers available at an additional 0.15% a year.
• Holdings in pounds, euros, dollars and more.
• ETFs, funds, shares, bonds and managed portfolios.
• Flexi-access drawdown for non-UK residents — something many UK pension providers don't offer.

Flexi-access drawdown lets you take money from your pension as and when you need it from the normal minimum pension age, rather than buying an annuity — exactly the flexibility a retiree in Thailand usually wants. It means you can bring a UK pension that has been sitting with an old employer or a provider that no longer serves expats into one place, invested in a way that suits your retirement.

The SIPP at a glance

Published features and charges of the Novia Global UK SIPP.

Source: Harrison Brook review of the Novia Global UK SIPP (March 2025). Fund and adviser charges are extra; check the latest charges with your adviser.

A UK SIPP or an overseas pension transfer?

For years, many expats were advised to move their UK pensions overseas into a QROPS — a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme. For most people living in Thailand, that has become much less attractive: transfers to a QROPS now generally carry a 25% overseas transfer charge unless you live in the same country as the scheme or in the EEA, and the EEA exclusion was removed for transfers from 30 October 2024.

That's why a UK SIPP designed for expats has become the natural home for many British pensions. It keeps your pension in a UK structure — avoiding the transfer charge — while giving you modern investment choice, currencies and flexible drawdown from Thailand. You can consolidate several old pensions into one, see everything online and draw income as you need it.

Pension decisions are among the most important you'll make, and some can't be undone. Before moving any pension, take advice on what you'd gain and lose — including any guarantees or valuable benefits in your existing scheme.

Options for a UK pension when you live in Thailand

A broad comparison of the main choices for British expats with UK pensions.

General comparison only. Defined benefit (final salary) pensions need specialist advice before any transfer.

Where to start

Novia Global is accessed through a financial adviser. Start with a free conversation, and use the right provider to bring your money to Thailand.

Bringing scattered pensions and savings together

A typical British expat in Thailand might have a pension from each of three or four employers, a personal pension, an ISA they can no longer pay into and some savings in a UK bank. Each has its own statements, its own charges and its own investments — and often nobody is looking at any of them.

Bringing suitable pensions and investments together on one platform has real advantages:

• One view of everything, online, wherever you are.
• One investment strategy, properly diversified, instead of several accidental ones.
• Lower costs in many cases, as larger pots qualify for lower platform fees.
• Simpler income — one source of drawdown instead of several.
• Easier reviews and rebalancing each year.
• Clearer arrangements for your family if anything happens to you.

Not every pension should be moved. Some older schemes carry valuable guarantees — guaranteed annuity rates, protected tax-free cash or final-salary benefits — that would be lost on transfer. A good review checks each one before anything changes.

Drawing an income from Thailand

Flexi-access drawdown lets you decide how much to take from your pension, and when. For a retiree in Thailand, a sensible approach usually looks like this:

1. Keep a year or two of income in cash, so you never have to sell investments after a market fall.
2. Take a sustainable amount each year, so the pension lasts as long as you do — potentially thirty years.
3. Move each year's income into baht at a good rate, in one or a few transfers.
4. Plan the tax in both countries, using the UK–Thailand treaty and Thai allowances.
5. Review every year, adjusting after good years and bad.

Done well, drawdown gives you control and flexibility that an annuity can't — and leaves any remaining pension to your family.

Final-salary pensions: a special case

If you have a defined benefit — final-salary — pension, it promises a guaranteed income for life, usually rising with inflation. That guarantee is extremely valuable, and for most people it's best kept. Transferring a final-salary pension into a SIPP gives up the guarantee in exchange for flexibility, and the decision can't be reversed. Anyone considering it should take specialist advice first. A review can still help you understand how a final-salary pension fits alongside your other savings and your income in Thailand.

Understanding the costs

Platforms generally charge in a simpler, more transparent way than many life-assurance bonds and savings plans. With Novia Global's SIPP, the published costs are a £240 yearly trustee fee and a platform fee of 0.34% a year that falls as the pension grows — with no set-up charge. On a £300,000 pension, that's about £1,260 a year, or 0.42%, before investment and adviser charges.

Your total cost will also include the charges of the funds you hold — which can be very low for index funds and ETFs, or higher for actively managed funds and discretionary managers — and your adviser's fee. Ask for the total yearly cost in pounds, including all three, and compare it with your current arrangements. Our guide to platform and fund charges shows how to compare.

Platforms usually have no establishment period and no exit charges, so you're not locked in — a real advantage for expats whose plans may change.

Strengths and points to consider

A balanced view of Novia Global for expats.

General observations from published information, October 2026 — not a recommendation for any individual.

Who Novia Global suits

Novia Global tends to suit expats who:

• Have UK pensions they want to consolidate and draw flexibly from Thailand.
• Have £50,000 or more to invest or bring together.
• Want wide investment choice, including low-cost index funds or a discretionary manager.
• Value flexibility — no establishment period and no exit charges.
• Want a UK structure, perhaps because they may return home.

Those saving monthly towards a goal may prefer a regular savings plan — see our regular savings directory — and those wanting the estate-planning features of an offshore bond may look at our lump-sum directory.

How Novia Global compares

A broad comparison with the other providers in our profiles.

See our Compare Investment Providers page for every profile.

Novia Global for expats in Thailand

• Pension income: drawdown from a UK SIPP can provide a flexible income alongside a frozen UK State Pension.
• Thai tax: pension income brought into Thailand by a Thai tax resident can be taxable, and the UK–Thailand treaty decides which country taxes which pension. Plan your drawdown and remittances — see our tax residence guide.
• Currency: hold investments in the currency you'll spend, and move a year's income into baht at a good rate.
• Visa: regular pension income can help meet the ฿65,000 a month retirement extension requirement.
• A possible return: a UK structure stays simple if you go home.
• Beneficiaries: keep your pension nominations up to date for a partner and children.

Three worked examples

Colin: three old pensions

Colin, 59, has three workplace pensions from his UK career, worth £280,000 in total, and lives in Hua Hin. His old providers won't give advice to non-UK residents. Lawrence reviews each — checking for guarantees — and recommends consolidating the two without valuable benefits into an expat SIPP on a platform such as Novia Global, invested in a global portfolio, with flexible drawdown from 60.

Karen and Steve: avoiding the transfer charge

Karen and Steve, both 62, in Chiang Mai, were once told to move their pensions to a QROPS. Lawrence explains the 25% overseas transfer charge that would now apply to them in Thailand, and compares an expat SIPP that keeps their pensions in the UK system with flexible drawdown and a discretionary manager.

Rob: a platform for his savings

Rob, 47, works in Bangkok and has £150,000 of savings his UK bank won't let him invest. Lawrence suggests an international platform with low-cost ETFs in dollars and pounds, with no exit charges in case his plans change.

Questions to ask before you start

1. Does my existing pension have guarantees or benefits I'd lose by moving it?
2. Why a SIPP rather than leaving it, a QROPS or another option?
3. What is the total yearly cost — platform, funds and advice — in pounds?
4. Which investments, and who will manage them?
5. Which currencies, given where I'll spend the money?
6. How will drawdown work from Thailand, and how will it be taxed?
7. How are my nominations for beneficiaries set up?
8. How is the adviser paid, and how often will we review?

Your platform and pension checklist

• List every UK pension and investment you hold.
• Check for guarantees before moving anything.
• Compare total costs with your current arrangements.
• Choose a diversified, worldwide portfolio.
• Hold the right currencies for your spending.
• Plan drawdown around Thai tax and your visa.
• Update beneficiary nominations.
• Review once a year with your adviser.

Keeping your accounts secure

• Use strong, unique passwords for your platform login.
• Turn on two-factor sign-in wherever it's offered.
• Use a private, protected connection on hotel, café and condo Wi-Fi.
• Beware "pension release" offers by phone or social media — they're a common scam.

How we researched this profile

We used Novia Global's own platform information, International Adviser's report on the launch of Novia Global Europe (June 2025), Global Investments' overview of international platforms (June 2026), Harrison Brook's review of the Novia Global UK SIPP (March 2025) for published SIPP charges and features, Investment Week's 2015 report on Novia Global's offshore platform, and GOV.UK on the overseas transfer charge. Checked 13 October 2026. Charges and features change; check the latest with your adviser. This profile is general information, not a recommendation of any product for any individual.