GFSC director-general Nik van Leuven.

Guernsey’s finance industry had originally faced the prospect of a 25% hike for 2010 alone but, after consulting the industry, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission agreed to stagger the rise. An across-industry average was agreed, of 16% this year and 11% in 2011.

Industry officials confirmed companies were against any additional charges that made Guernsey a more expensive place to do business.

The jump comes as the commission announced it wanted to build cash reserves of at least six months’ expenditure by 2012 to allow it to ‘absorb future unexpected or exceptional costs without putting its solvency at risk’.

Other reasons given by the GFSC to justify the rise included the increasing cost of regulatory and supervisory demands upon it, the reduced level of income it received as a result of fewer new licence applications, and its increased rent costs from late 2010 when the commission moves into new offices.

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