Fatca, a piece of US tax legislation designed to prevent US citizens evading tax, will lead to a global tax framework whose implementation will cost the asset management industry "billions of dollars" within the next 10 years, according to delegates at a fund management conference in London.

Asset managers and custodians have already stated in public that compliance with Fatca - the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act - is proving an expensive burden. It requires them to disclose, to the US tax services, details of US taxpayers using their services - so the US tax services can make sure all its taxpayers are paying all the tax they are supposed to.