GUERNSEY has one of the best financial regulatory regimes in the world. Credit Suisse Asset Management vice-chairman Bob Parker, who regularly appears on Radio 4, Bloomberg and major financial news programmes, said Guernsey’s way of doing things had ensured it stayed an attractive place to do business.

‘When people look at offshore centres, one critical factor is the regulatory regime and the financial accident rate.

‘The Guernsey regulatory authorities have done very well in avoiding any financial scandals.

‘In other jurisdictions this has simply not been the case. Guernsey has kept itself clean and it’s been very successful.’

Mr Parker has been coming to Guernsey since the late 1970s, when he was working for Rothschild, and since 1982 with Credit Suisse.

He is now vice-chairman of CSAM, based in London, and is a member of the chairman’s board of Credit Suisse, as well as of the company’s investment committee.

He has responsibility globally for the management and development of new business and client relationships for CSAM’s business.

He is also a member of the advisory boards of the European Institute and Funds Europe and of the Advisory Council of the

UK Society of Investment Professionals.

‘I’ve seen Guernsey evolve as a financial centre over 30 years. It has had great success and stayed strong against severe competition from other financial centres.

‘Obviously it has an advantage with tax, but it has created a very successful trust and administration sector, which are fee-generating services.

‘It has held on to this even in the face of strong competition from Luxembourg and Dublin.’

Mr Parker was here to give a presentations to Credit Suisse employees and other financial professionals covering a variety of topics including capital market trends and investment strategies for the rest of this year and 2008.