I was told of review – chief minister
Wednesday 26th November 2008, 2:29PM GMT.
CHIEF Minister Lyndon Trott was told on Friday of the UK Government’s pending review of financial operations in offshore territories and Crown Dependencies.
Deputy Trott (pictured) said the Ministry of Justice had informed him of the move, and he believed Guernsey had nothing to fear.
‘The world financial services industry has changed enormously and is barely recognisable to what it was a year ago,’ he said. ‘The political and economic climate has changed and I see the review as an opportunity for us.’
The timing was useful because it came on the back of submissions the island had made to the UK Treasury Select Committee and ahead of the January visit from representatives of the International Monetary Fund.
‘It means that much of the things that will be demanded of us will already be in place.’
Deputy Trott and States chief executive Mike Brown expect to meet representatives from the ministry in London tomorrow to discuss the review’s terms of reference.
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The only thing that they will demand us to comply with is returning their rightful money. It is not about being transparent but more of playing fair.
We have cheated others for far too long. Now they can’t afford to support our wishes regardless of how well their elite benefit from our wheeling and dealing.
We are all going to have to play with equal hands. Some will win others will lose. It is as simple as that.
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Deputy Trott didn’t explain, not even hinted at the island administration’s failure to enact a proper depositor protection scheme recommended in a major review of Guernsey’s financial Service sector as far back as March 2000. For over eight years, the Deputies were either incapable or unwilling to set up such a scheme allowing a number of financial companies based in Guernsey, such as Landsbanki Guernsey (LBG), to solicit for depositor cash globally, whilst not offering any protection within the Guernsey jurisdiction. As a result, over 2,000 depositors with the failed LBG lost a large part of their life savings.
The pending review by the UK authorities, if conducted properly, justly, and independently cannot but both pinpoint to this critical failure, as well as suggest who was to blame, and what retrospective remedies are needed to restore Guernsey’s reputation as a save place for people’s savings. If I were Deputy Trott, the lack of a depositor protection scheme in the past would worry me.
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Protection Scheme.
Being a Landsbanki depositor who has lost money, I do feel that it is a case of trying to save some face after the event.
Some questions need to asked as to why they have been slow reacting to this crisis, and why this Bank was let trade in Guernsey when I believe the Jersey Authorities to be blunt wouldn’t have touched them with a barge pole.
Being main players within the financial world, you would have though that both Islands including the Isle of Man would have been the last place on earth that any depositor should have lost money.
We are always being told that these Islands are bringing in millions of pounds into their economies, so were as all the money gone.
In closing I do feel that Local politicians have for many years been burying their heads in the sand hoping everything was going to pass us by and we would be immune from outside forces.
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