GUERNSEY’S wealth management sector believes business opportunities in the Asian market are better than ever following the visit of a local delegation.
A team of officials and industry leaders from Guernsey’s finance industry recently returned from a three-centre visit to Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
‘The delegation was extremely valuable,’ said GuernseyFinance chief executive Peter Niven (pictured).
‘Not only have we made progress establishing the Guernsey brand in Singapore and Hong Kong, but in Shanghai particularly we really made significant strides towards reinforcing our growing presence in the market.
Chief Minister Lyndon Trott was a keynote speaker at the opening of the 6th China International Finance Forum in Shanghai.
He told delegates that Guernsey was a leading international finance centre that met the highest standards of transparency and regulation.
The delegation’s time in the city also included the official opening of the new premises for the Guernsey representative office.
Deputy Trott and Shanghai Municipal Financial Services director general Dr Fang Xinghai unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion.
There was also a half-day conference showcasing why Guernsey was ideally positioned to provide offshore investment fund and wealth management solutions to the Chinese market.
This was attended by more than 80 professionals from the Shanghai financial services industry, including lawyers and accountants.
Speakers included Channel Islands Stock Exchange chairman and States external affairs adviser Jonathan Hooley and the Guernsey Registrar of Companies, Mark Whiteley.
In addition, the delegation included meetings with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the British Consulate and more local industry practitioners.
Those from Guernsey’s finance sector who took part in the visit to Shanghai included representatives from the Trident, Richmond and Louvre groups, as well as law firms Ogier and Collas Day and accountants Deloitte and KPMG.
Mr Niven added that the firms from Guernsey’s finance industry that went with the delegation ‘are all saying that it has provided them with the ideal opportunity to either make new contacts or develop existing relationships’.
‘Indeed, such has been our success that not only have they found the meetings extremely useful, but they believe there is the prospect of some early business flows.’
The delegation kicked off with Guernsey as lead sponsor and exhibitor at the Step Asia conference in Singapore.
Mr Hooley spoke on ‘the new global framework for wealth structuring’ and participated in a panel session that looked at the contribution ‘offshore’ centres make to higher tax jurisdictions.
Mr Niven chaired a debate provocatively titled ‘Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy are right – tax havens really are finished’.
The delegation then moved on to Hong Kong where there was a half-day conference showcasing why Guernsey’s expertise in offshore investment funds makes it an ideal gateway for Asia to access the European capital marketplace.
The Guernsey team also met the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Investment Fund Association before heading to Shanghai.
Article posted on 4th November, 2009 - 2.30pm
20 Article Comments
The CM “told delegates that Guernsey was a leading international finance centre that met the highest standards of transparency and regulation”. I suppose he and Peter Niven will end up believing it if they say it often enough. Don’t know whether the Chinese will, though.
“The delegation’s time in the city also included the official opening of the new premises for the Guernsey representative office.” Glad to see they can afford this despite the island’s dire financial straits.
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I’ve had fun reading GuernseyFinance propaganda articles in the various ‘OFC’ promotional fora.
It really is very detached from reality.
I love the euphemistic way they claim they have to be ‘careful’ about putting the ‘facts’ across to avoid confusion amongst the uninformed Asians.
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As a Guernsey born and educated man currently living in Hong Kong I am VERY glad to see that the Island is embracing the global trend towards interaction with Asia.
Guernsey and the other offshore British dependencies can play a key part in future investment into and out of Asia owing to our specialised and well trained finance industry professionals and current competative taxation levels.
Peter Niven and Guernsey Finance are a key part in selling “Guernsey PLC” and ensuring new business continues to flow into Guernsey securing the Islands prosperity regardless of whether you are for or against the finance industry.
Peter and your team – Keep up the good work!
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Yep, we’ll be able to launder all sorts of unknown provenanced cash.
This is China we’re dealing with.
What sort of clients do you think we’ll be servicing? Hoiw have they made their money in a communist regime?
We will be funneling the proceeds of corruption to unbalance still further the capital distribution for the majority. It’s preposterous to talk of us having ‘links’ to a totalitarian system. Next you’ll be telling me it’s good to facilitate arms sales to Kenya, to encourage a coup in Guinea and to handle dictator’s cash.
Or help with the demise of the Icelandic banks that have put Guernsey residents out of pocket and forced governments to reimburse deposit holders out of tax payer cash.
What are the checks and balances?
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You certainly make some valid points.
Guernsey must continue to oversea and maintain the high level of compliance of funds and clients wishing to make use of our financial services firms. Some other jurisdictions considered onshore and even offshore do not even have compliance or regulatory bodies in place to make these checks – Hong Kong being one with regard to company, trust and fund administration.
I’m guessing you have not been to China or are not really aware of the financial markets there. Cash in any country can be from illicit funds, in this respect China is no different from any other country. It has a huge manufacturing base and many firms are creating huge profits from their level of international trade, and not from the exploitation of workers, which I mention as I suspect that this would be an additional point of argument from you. Guernsey is an attractive centre for them, and if their funds are legitimate why should we turn them away? Would you prefer to see Jersey, Singapore or somewhere else profit at the expense of Guernsey?
Money from dictators plundering their countries is not welcome in sophisticated regimes such as Guernsey. It would be far easier to open bank accounts in the USA and other FATF member countries were compliance is not as stringent as Guernsey and other well regulated financial centres. Funds from 911 were meant to have been taken from accounts in New York and European countries.
Please don’t mix up these matters with the Icelandic Bank issue. If a major British high street bank had defaulted would you be blaming Guernsey too?
How exactly does an Asian businessman making use of Guernsey financial services, i.e. placing money into the island and paying for these services equate to a failed Icelandic bank?
If you want to bang your drum about the failure of the Icelandic Bank issue, as you are perfectly entitled to, please choose the correct forum. The Icelandic bank issue is important and Guernsey can learn from this. However, what check and measure would you suggest applies to Asia and Guernsey Finance marketing there?
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Are we well regulated, MC? Do we know the true meaning of the trades we facilitate? Are we sure our CDD is strong enough?
Foot didn’t think so. I don’t think so. So how will we know how clean the money we’re dealing with is, presuming that all introductions will be done through intermediaries?
And do you know the levels of alleged corruption within the local communist party set up?
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Except Foot didn’t actually say that did he Arnald? As much as you may have liked him to have said what you wanted to here, you cannot attribute statements to him that he did not make.
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Arnald,
I stressed before legitimate funds. I do believe we have a working and reliable compliance system and standard.
Do you personally know the level of corruption in the Communist Party of China? If so how, and perhaps you can volunteer to be a compliance officer for Guernsey businesses with China clients.
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7.18
Is “not better than partially compliant” good enough for you?
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Arnald
TL is quite right.
I have a copy of the Foot report in front of me now and I can’t find any reference to where he says he doesn’t think we are well regulated, or that he doesn’t think we know the true meaning of the trades we facilitate, or that our CDD isn’t strong enough.
Please point me to the relevant sections as I must be missing what are obviously some subliminal messages hidden in my copy.
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Arnald
Para 7.18 reads:
“Customer due diligence (CDD) must of course be undertaken in order to identify suspicious transactions. Again, there is a need for a number of the jurisdictions within the scope of this Review to improve compliance against the FATF’s main CDD Recommendation (Recommendation 5). None of the jurisdictions has been assessed as better than partially compliant and Bermuda and The Turks and Caicos Islands were last assessed as non-compliant.”
You seem to be assuming that “a number of the jurisdictions” automatically includes Guernsey. On what basis do you make such an assumption ? If that comment applied to all jurisdictions then surely it would have said so.
Where it states that “None of the jurisdictions has been assessed as better than partially compliant…” it is based on the number of STRs as per Chart 7C. That shows that Guernsey made around 750 STRs in 2004, around 550 in 2006 and around 500 in 2008. But NOBODY knows how many ought to have been made. Guernsey may well be 100% compliant and may well have filed every STR that it should have done. Now I accept that’s probably naive but nobody can prove otherwise. The IMF will no doubt be able to confirm this more accurately in 2010. If there isn’t more than 500 STRs which should have been made in 2008, how on earth would it be possible to file any more than that figure ? Are we supposed to make them up just to boost numbers ?
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Arnald – if you read the report properly you will see that the statement you quoted does not relate to Guernsey. The Foot report did not consider Guernsey’s CDD as it was reviewd a few years back and has been substially strengthened since then. That statement referred only to those jurisdictions which were reviewed.
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As a PS I would have preferred it if Foot had reviewed our CDD as I am sure that we would have been shown to be compliant. We are certainly more rigorous than the UK.
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David makes the comment ” Guernsey may well be 100% compliant and may well have filed every STR that it should have done. Now I accept that’s probably naive but nobody can prove otherwise.”
Similarly, you can’t prove it’s a correct assumption.
It is more likely to presume that not every STR that should have been filed was filed.
Even missing one destroys your hypothesis.
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Stephen John
No it doesn’t destroy my hypothesis because my hypothesis was clearly qualified by the comment that it would be naive to think that every STR had been filed !
Your stance demands perfection. Businesses aiming for perfection will hit a very high target but where human beings are concerned perfection is not guaranteed. The odd one will be missed. Even regulators will accept the inevitably of that, provided that its not a wilful or Nelsonian non-filing.
But compare the current position with 2003 when the IMF last inspected us. We have improved massively since then. I am convinced, as seemingly is TL, that we are far more compliant than the UK and nearly all onshore and offshore jurisdictions. That’s what is relevant, and we must of course continue to strive for 100% filing of STRs. Foot rightly warns of complacency.
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Do you file an STR every time you accept business from an intermediary who has not forwarded CDD proof?
You should.
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Arnald
That’s an academic question because we wouldn’t act for someone unless the CDD is already in place.
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David
In place where, though?
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Arnald
In place here of course. Not sure what point you are trying to make.
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Arnald – your questions reveal how you have little understanding of how CDD works and hw rigorous our requirements are.
Your question of ‘where’ the CDD is held is also irrelevant because the service provider in Guernsey must be satisfied. We cannot simply take the word of a bank in China that they hold the information, for example.
I think that if you saw the requirements in practice and how rigorously they are implemented, you would be pleasantly surprised.
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