THE chief executive of GuernseyFinance has admitted he is not a fan of the industry having to help fund the promotional body.
Peter Niven, speaking to members of the Insurance Institute of Guernsey at its monthly lunch meeting, suggested that the industry contributing one-third towards its £1.2m. budget was wrong.
It is believed to be the first time Mr Niven (pictured) has said publicly he is not a fan of the legislation.
‘It’s heavy-handed and a sledgehammer to crack a nut.’
In his opinion, the industry already contributed in a large way to the running and success of GuernseyFinance by, for example, supplying speakers at its conferences and events.
‘The input they already provide is worth much more than how much they are expected to pay.’
Mr Niven put an estimate on that contribution at around £500,000. The contributions from the industry, which will also be recovered for 2009, is expected to raise roughly £400,000 a year.
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Article posted on 9th February, 2010 - 2.30pm
24 Article Comments
Another banker without a clue of what the public feel and without a care about what they think.
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After another long day Offshoring its sad The states of Guernsey is’nt prepared to support our Industry.Its time the damn locals dug a bit deeper and gave us more cash.Before we came to Guernsey you were all running around the fields trying to remember where you planted your potatoes.We have threatened to leave before,and can do so again ,we can leave overnight,and not pay our tax somewhere else ..
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About time those with the money parted with some of it!
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Toni Bandinee
The Guernsey taxpayers are already paying over £50 million of taxes each year on behalf of the finance industry through zero 10.
If you want to go then go. The great majority of senior staff will stay in Guernsey because of the life style they enjoy, and the realism that they would be bit players in any small cogs in a big wheel in a large financial centre.
Further realism is that after £50 million plus each year from the taxpayer, the greedy gits are now trying to tap the taxpayer for another half million.
When will people realise the finance industry needs Guernsey and its repute as much as Guernsey needs the moneycounters.
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Stephen
These “taxpayers” that you refer to obviously include finance industry workers. These people then pay builders, restaurants, retail outlets, taxi drivers etc significant sums which are then taxed again. If the finance industry didn’t exist where would the “original money” come from?
You must surely know the answer i.e. nowhere, and the whole island would be screwed. Don’t let that stop your ranting though, no doubt your well-informed chum Arnald will be along to back you up soon. Unless of course he’s being denied access to the internet at work…
Why oh why can’t the Isle of Wight find something interesting to keep you occupied?
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I am certainly not “anti” the finance industry – after all it paid my wages either directly or indirectly for well over a decade.
However I do think that Peter Niven is wrong on this occasion. I agree that our economy is hugely benefited by the presence of finance however excellent though it is, I doubt they’re here for the seafood. Financial institutions also materially benefit from being on Guernsey or they wouldn’t be here – simples.
With the amount of money flowing around the finance industry locally – demonstrated by the extravagance of some of their offices, not to mention the amount of new BMWs and Mercs driving around – I remain to be convinced that they can’t all club together and raise £1.2m to self promote. Stop bleating Mr Niven and pay up!
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I’ve just re-read the article and realised it’s only 1/3 of the £1.2m they’re being asked for….which IMO only serves to further validate my point!
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Well said Phil,where do those damn locals think the Money comes from, where do you get money from ? A BANK of course,Even if they managed to grow potato’s , would the taxi driver on the airport run except them as payment, i think not, who pays the builders,restaurants,and the Dancing Ladies at Latino’s,we do.
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Toni Bandinee, did you get off on the wrong island,potatoes is Jersey we grew tomatoes here and very well too,please get your facts correct before you insult us.
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Toni – your comments are far too simplistic and lack a basic understanding of economics.
Much of the wealth deposited in the banks is generated from other industry such as manufacturing, technology, oil, retail etc etc. They are the backbone of the world economy. Much of the internal wealth generated by banks is on the back of industry too – such as share dealing. Shares in companies who are part of other industrial sectors – who themselves rely on the likes of farmers etc.
Without other industries such as manufacturing etc. generating wealth there would be no money to put into banks…so you’d be screwed. It’s a symbiotic relationship!
Also, to be even more simplistic: without growers, farmers etc there wouldn’t be food in the supermarket – you’d have to produce your own. This would mean you wouldn’t have time to work in the bank – you’d be in the fields mate.
It’s a symbiotic relationship my friend!
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Toni,
Your attitude stinks, no wonder there is many people in this island who have no time for the finance industry, you seem to think that our island owes you something, if you don’t like it then leave!
Many finance sector employees are already enjoying a lifestyle that is beyond most peoples dreams whilst the rest of us struggle to pay the extra tax to safeguard your industry.
I thought you had to be intelligent to work in finance but reading your drivel I’m obviously mistaken.
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has anyone thought that Toni Bandinee might be winding you up? I certainly hope he is!
P Le P – I don’t think that anyone would dispute that physical businesses are vital, but the point is about the attraction of business to Guernsey (not the totality of the components of the world economy). By and large, business comes here due to our fiscal policy and expertise in administering offshore structures. As a small island, we can add very little (with a few exceptions) to the actual generation of products, and can merely act as a conduit for making investment in those businesses more attractive.
But on the original point, I do believe that it is fair for the industry to pay the sums being proposed.
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Yes you’re right TL…I do think that Toni Bandinee is winding people up – either that or he’s a few cans short of a six-pack!
You’re also right on the economic question however there is still a local symbiotic relationship between finance and other sectors of our island economy. For example, without support industries such as telecommunications, airlines, taxis, cleaners, retail etc the banks would be unable to function – or at least have very hungry workers in very dirty offices! The reason I raised that point was because Toni Bandinee was implying by his rather arrogant posting that somehow finance was a superior industry to the others because of it’s higher monetary throughput. I fundamentally disagree with this point – all sectors of industry are important to us – including finance!
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Here we go again – another load of bash the bankers type comments and comments about that horrid “finance” monster that lurks on Guernsey. Simple fact is that the finance industry can and may leave very quickly and it wouldn’t take much to make Guernsey an uncompetive jursdiction. Senior staff may love it here but they don’t make decisions as to what happens here or can change if another place becomes more attractive to business. “Finance” isn’t here because of the schools, it doesn’t play on the beaches, it doesn’t enjoy the cliff walks, quality of life, etc. “It” doesn’t care about what shops exist in town, how the Bridge is getting run down, the proposed incinerator or the price of a pint at the Albion. It’s here because of what Guernsey currently offers as a competitive conduit for various financial products on the internaitonal stage. If it goes then we all suffer and frankly there doesn’t appear to be much else to provide the direct and indirect jobs and income it provides – the Telehone Museum has a limited draw on the international tourist scene.
Milkmen may complain about that horrid “finance” beast but if that beast goes then who’s going to have the money to buy his milk?
The work that GF does benefits Guernsey as a whole (whether you like it or not) and the money thrown on similar bodies elsewhere in the world by the equivalent of the States is much greater with no equivalent levy on business. Many businesses already spend a lot of their own time and money on supporting GF events at which they promote Guernsey as a whole – no-one who supports such events is allowed to simply plug their own business.
As unpopular as I know it will be to many of those who contribute to these threads (who appear to want some form of utopian paradise funded by some form of magic cash machine in the Vale dispensing funds to all who need it whilst the bankers, accountants and lawyers are put on the next boat) Peter Niven’s spot on and with the sheer amount of work I personally know he does that benefits everyone on Guernsey he deserves a bit more respect and a lot less bashing.
Will now put soap box away, crawl back to my sprawling mansion in my gold plated bentley and await the flak whilst someone books me onto the morning ferry.
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I actually struggle to understand what GuernseyFinance actually does, as I think i’m not alone with this.
If it is used to channel custom to institutions that are already present in the island, then it is obvious that those institutions should pay for it’s services.
However, if it’s role is to attract new institutions to the island then I can’t see why it should be funded by anyone but The States?
Good to see the usual idiotic comments bashing bankers and talking about the extra £50mio tax burden on the tax payer. I guess that “tax payer” must exclude anyone who works in the finance industry. Probably excludes anyone born outside of the sound of the Victoria Tower air raid siren…….bloney finance foreignors, eh?
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Some say Potato others Tomato,either way The Financial services Industry is way further up the food chain.
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A Bod
Just to let you know I do not work in the finance industry but I can afford to buy Guernsey milk, another typical analogy, because you do not work in finance you are the paupers. The finance industry excuse me has pushed the prices up everywhere restaurants, shops,travel, I am not knocking it because we need it but Guernsey has changed and not altogether for the better.
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A Bod,
I’d love to book you onto the morning ferry but sadly the finance industry is taking so much of my hard earned cash that I can’t afford to!
Never mind, I’m sure the States will come to the rescue and stomp up some more money for the poor finance sector as usual.
I suppose all of us that don’t work in finance should be eternally grateful that the success of the industry has pushed local prices through the roof, overpopulated the island, stretched all our resources and services to the limit and generally made Guernsey a hugely expensive place to live.
I suspect there is a lot of people employed in the finance sector that have little or no idea how difficult life can be for the lower paid.
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I’m very much in favour of support for the finance industry which, despite the bad effects it has had, has improved the standard of living in Guernsey for over 40 years.
It is not surprising that “John the Baptist” Niven should be campaigning for the taxpayer to pay his salary when talking to those who will otherwise have to pick up the tab. However, that does not make it right that the industry that benefits from the activities of GuernseyFinance should not pay towards its costs. I think an even bigger share than one third would be justified.
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a bod
there is very little elasticity of demand in milk so I don’t think the milkmen need concern themselves too much with what you say.
What I’ve never been really able to understand about finance over here is that I would have thought that institutions like HSBC as an example would have a very detailed knowledge of what goes on in every offshore finance centre in the world. I think the big finance companies know what services and facilities are on offer in every offshore finance centre anywhere. Why then do we need to pay people to advertise.
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Toni Bandinee are you being serious? If you dislike the locals then you know where the Airport and Harbour are situated, get off your backside and go home!
I’m still in full time education, and I would much rather go back to the “potato” growing industry which we used to have, what am I saying, since when have we grown potatos?
Seriously mate, I’d much rather have all your foreigners out of here and have a peaceful island, we might actually be able to not use cars!
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Toni Bandinee, your arrogance and racism towards the local population, our culture and superb hospitality epitomises the dumb & dumber mentality that the likes of you and others spew out.
It is apparent by your vile posts that you despise Guernsey so may I suggest that you leave the island. …..I will even pay your boat or airfare off the island……
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Should finance pay a FRACTION of the cost of funding their OWN mouthpiece? I can’t believe that Peter N even has the audacity to voice this opinion…but then, one doesn’t bite the hand that feeds, does one…?
I find it interesting that whenever a discussion about the ‘benefits’ that the finance industry has brought us in the (relatively) few years it’s been here comes about, it’s always about how ‘better off we are’/'where were we before they were here (implication, worse off)’ etc.
Though some may not care to admit it, this theory is invariably based on financial wealth, ie. MONEY, and that MONEY (and the material things it buys) MUST EQUAL HAPPINESS.
I sincerely wish that the people who spout this mantra would STOP for just one moment and actually consider WHY they think this is true, or indeed, why it has come to be this way, as there are other things than money that make us ‘wealthy’.
They could also consider that perhaps the reason they ‘need’ all these these ‘things’ is that they are so damn unhappy in their work they have to keep working to get money to buy things to make them happy (and the beat goes on….)
Sadly, I suspect that many are too brainwashed/scared to think outside of what the finance industry (and it’s mouthpiece Guernsey Finance, that WE fund) is constantly telling them.
I am NOT suggesting that we should go and live mud huts, rid ourselves entirely of the vampiric finance industry, or that 100’s of people should lose their jobs and suffer because of an ‘idealistic’ view of life (like a return to real values and a more holistic sense of what ‘quality of life’ actually means), simply that people should try to consider, just CONSIDER, what the REAL cost of having an overly dominant finance industry actually is, and not just in pounds and pence.
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You work all night, you work all day, a slave to all those things, you say
Make you glad
Like better house and better car, and holidays both close and far
That’s so sad
You work each day from 9 ‘til 5
From Monday to Friday you’ll survive
Then the weekend comes, it starts to rain – are you alive???
Money, money, money
It’s not so funny
In your Guernsey world
Money, money, money
Really not that sunny
In your Guernsey world
Aha-ahaaa
Think how happy you’d be
If you forgot about the money
In your Guernsey world
A better life’s not hard to find, keep a stress free, fun-filled life in mind
when you plan
To leave the gossip and the rain, the roadworks, traffic, it’s all the same
Because you can
Guernsey’s not and never will be, the centre of the universe, you’ll see
So take a risk and play the game, your life will never be the same
Money, money, money
There’s no pot of honey
In your Guernsey world
What really makes you happy
Really really happy?
In your Guernsey world
Aha-ahaaa
There’s a good life you see
Just forget about the money
Look beyond your Guernsey World.
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