As indicated by the Minister in his Budget speech, the Bill contains a number of measures to support the International Financial Services industry. The key measures include:

• A number of amendments to support the UCITS IV Directive provisions (sections 32, 33 & 34)
• Section 41 contains measures to facilitate cash pooling and group treasury options (section 41)
• A new unilateral relief for foreign tax suffered on equipment leasing rental income (section 51)
• Section 36 seeks to improve the functioning of the Islamic Finance provisions as introduced in Finance Act 2010
• Section 88 contains a number of stamp duty amendments which extend the range and scope of stamp duty exemptions applying to certain financial transactions and confirm the stamp duty treatment of options over shares.