This Is Guernsey

By Simon Tostevin

GUERNSEY and Jersey have slipped in The City of London’s Global Financial Centres Index top 50 rated financial centres. Grouped together as the Channel Islands in the league table, Guernsey and Jersey have dropped out of the top 20 and now stand at 23.

The Isle of Man has been recognised as the leading offshore centre, ranked 21st, ahead of other competitors the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

The second GFCI report ranks them based on external benchmarking data and current views of competitiveness. Factors are grouped into five key areas - people, the business environment, market access, infrastructure and general competitiveness.

Peter Niven, chief executive of GuernseyFinance - the promotional agency for the island’s finance industry - said it was strange to see Guernsey and Jersey grouped together, but he was not overly concerned with a drop in ranking for an index only in its second year.

‘When you speak to people, they usually have an individual view on each island in one way or another but they seem to like us together, as they did in the first year.

‘It’s the first time the Isle of Man has been included and they have gone ahead of us, but it’s not apparent who they have asked, so it’s difficult to make a judgement.

‘But gongs are not what we aspire to.

‘We look to attract and find new business for the island and that’s what we are doing. We have more business now than we ever had before.’

The GFCI research is conducted by the Z/Yen Group Ltd for the City of London Corporation.

It uses additional data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and a survey of the industry to develop an index of competitiveness for 50 world financial centres, charting how they rate relative to each other.

The index brings together the results of online surveys completed by financial services leaders and 54 separate indices of competitiveness.

The GFCI was first published in March and is designed to extend the City’s research by providing an ongoing rating system for financial centres worldwide.

Article posted on 22nd October, 2007 - 12.00am