THERE is little chance that GuernseyFinance will share facilities in the Far East with its Jersey counterpart, according to its chief executive Peter Niven.
GuernseyFinance has its own office and representative in Shanghai, while JerseyFinance has one in Hong Kong.
But when asked by a stakeholder at an industry update earlier this week whether the two organisations should be sharing resources for the benefit of the Channel Islands as a whole, Mr Niven (pictured) said there was little chance of it happening, although he admitted it would be beneficial.
‘I see opportunities for GuernseyFinance and JerseyFinance to work together, particularly in new emerging markets.
‘Not so much in places like London, where to an extent they already know what the strengths of Guernsey and Jersey are, but in new markets like China it would be a good idea.
‘There would be a lot of merit in it, but there hasn’t been a great deal of enthusiasm from my colleagues across the water.
‘It may be something the politicians can help us with so that we can get a commitment from a more senior level.’
Mr Niven added it would make sense because even the two islands’ names were easily confused at times in emerging markets because they were so similar.
Plans for a full-time London representative are also on the back-burner for now.
It has been something GuernseyFinance has been considering for some time, but Mr Niven said it was unlikely to happen in 2010 with the current financial climate, despite it having a number of advantages.
‘Having someone on the ground in London is something the sectors have been asking about for a while.’
Mr Niven said it would aid Guernsey’s message to have someone on the spot who could respond immediately in person to enquiries or questions.
But if it did happen, it would not be cheap as it would need to be a high calibre individual with good contacts, and have a decent location for its office.
In terms of plans for 2010, Mr Niven said they were to build on this year, its busiest year to date, during which it attended 19 third-party events, up four from in 2008, and held seven specific GuernseyFinance events.
Journalist interaction was up by 32% in 2009, the number of international press releases rose by 30% and the number of generated finance articles increased 80%.
The number of Mondaq viewings also rose by 73%.
In all, the value of GuernseyFinance’s editorial coverage between March 2008 and March 2009 was £1.5m.
Mr Niven said greater interaction with broadsheet journalists and the trade press was particularly pleasing.
‘They are more eager to talk to us now and look to us for early comment.
‘The Financial Times is often on the phone looking for a comment from us before they go to press on a particular story.’
But that did not mean the battle had been won in getting the positive Guernsey message across.
A lot of journalists, he said, still had an agenda and a preconceived idea of what Guernsey’s financial services industry was about, which was something a representative in London on hand all the time could help with.
Other plans for 2010 included greater interaction with Guernsey’s banking sector, and moving forward with market developments in India.
‘We are starting a process there and we can hopefully stretch the budget to do some work in India.’
Article posted on 6th November, 2009 - 2.30pm
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