This Is Guernsey

By Tom Edwards

IF the same proportion of people attended the Securities and Investment Institute’s annual dinner in London as they do in Guernsey, they would fill Arsenal Football Club’s Emirates Stadium. That was the view of institute chief executive officer Simon Culhane, who was in Guernsey to speak at the local event at Beau Sejour, which was attended by 422 people.

‘The annual dinner in Guernsey is by far the most important event in the SII calendar and this year it has broken all records,’ he said.

‘It is absolutely staggering to think that 0.6% of the island’s population attended. If you narrow that down to the working population, you’re talking more like 1.2%.

‘By my calculations, that’s something like one in 80 people. If we had that kind of attendance in London we’d struggle to find a venue big enough.

‘Our mandate is to set standards of professional integrity within the investment and securities industry and the huge membership in Guernsey demonstrates the business community’s commitment to those values,’ said Mr Culhane.

Perhaps the fact that it is such an intimate community here motivates people to adhere to ethical business practice, he said, whereas that might not be the case in the relative anonymity of other places.

During his speech, Mr Culhane used a real-life ethical scenario to get across the institute’s key message of integrity.

He painted a picture of a team pitching for new business which had stumbled upon a book containing vital information about a competitor.

Guests then had to select a course of action they would take from an ‘ethical dilemna options card’ on their table, imagining they were the managing director of the team.

‘What’s surprising is that most people change their initial answer once they have had time to reflect upon the situation.

‘In North America, the vast majority of responses is ﾓcongratulations, this is a dog-eat-dog world and you did well in this highly competitive environmentﾔ.

‘In contrast, here the tendency is to apologise to the client, withdraw the pitch and discipline the team. That’s what happened in the real-life situation because the business’s brand was based upon transparency and honesty and in the long run it worked to its benefit.’