Finance industry to pay towards promotion
Friday 6th March 2009, 2:30PM GMT.
GUERNSEY’S finance industry is to pay some of the costs of the agency set up to promote it.
Commerce and Employment, which currently funds GuernseyFinance out of its budget, is taking the proposal to the States at the end of the month.
The levy will be paid by companies that are regulated and licensed by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.
The Commerce and Employment minister, Carla McNulty Bauer (pictured), said GuernseyFinance’s work was vital to the island.
‘The promotion of the Guernsey “brand” is essential if the financial services sector is to continue to be the driver of the Guernsey economy, providing job opportunities both directly and indirectly in other sectors and to continue as a major contributor to tax revenues,’ she said.
The charge will be calculated by the number of staff employed at each business, with a fixed maximum for larger businesses.
Invoices for the amount will be sent out every December, and payable in January, with the exception of this year when the fee will become payable as soon as the legislation is enacted.
It is unclear how much each company will be asked to pay.
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Guernsey is for me finished as a financial centre. I lost money in Landsbanki and so far there has been very little support from Guernsey. This has prompted me to move all my remaining assets out of Guernsey and my colleagues are doing the same. If Guernsey is simply not able to afford the liabilities incurred if a bank fails, why should it profit from it?
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“If Guernsey is simply not able to afford the liabilities incurred if a bank fails, why should it profit from it?”
Guernsey profits by taxing the profits of banks as it does other companies in other industries. Are you suggesting therefore that Guernsey should bail out any company that goes bust as it has profited through collecting tax?
Few financial centres can afford to bail out failed banks and few have done so. If Guernsey bailed out Landsbanki what would happen if a 2nd or 3rd bank with a local branch went down. What if that bank had say a £1bn liabilities to depositors? The first bank to go down might get bailed out and then there would be no further funds left – and the first bank would probably have been the riskiest to deposit money with – maybe one backed by a country like Iceland.
Banks do fail and it’s sad when people lose money that they can’t afford to lose but unfortunately these things happen and therefore people should be aware of risk and spread their risk accordingly. Banks have also failed recently in the US but I don’t see that they are finished as a finance centre so I don’t believe the Landsbanki failure will affect Guernsey too much despite the wishes of the Landsbanki depositors.
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Bye ..Bob!
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