Guernsey Finance’s man in the US has urged firms to join with him as he works to develop business in the country.
Jonny Gamble was speaking at the promotional body’s 2025 Industry Update, which also heard about offshore trust opportunities coming out of South Africa and how important it was to be part of the developing regulatory process in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Gamble outlined what made the island of interest to Americans.
“In the private world space, asset protection and succession planning have been a key interest for the intermediaries that I’ve been speaking to,” he said.
“Why? As here in Guernsey, we have structures that allow private individuals and families to manage their wealth, their investments and their philanthropic efforts. We have structures that allow them to have a range of control that suits a client’s needs.
“We have 60 years experience in setting up and managing these structures, and we have a range of service providers here in the audience who can deliver the service requirements that meet their clients needs.”
It was the same story in funds.
“Let’s take private equity and venture capitalism. What have I been seeing, and what makes Guernsey interesting to some of those US managers? Well, certainly it’s our access to international capital markets and our expertise in running structures.
“More importantly, different from our European and Caribbean competitors, we have a specific, bespoke model compared to the more cookie cutter model more present there. We can deliver bespoke structures very cost effectively for them to meet their needs.”
Recent research shows that 97% of funds only need to be raised in three countries.
“That means our NPPR [National Private Placement Regime] is a very quick and easy way to access international capital markets. More importantly, further independent research has shown that the extra cost of being an AIFM team manager could lead to £2 to £3m. extra costs over the lifetime of the fund. So Guernsey doesn’t suffer from that.
“The message that I hear from the intermediaries that I speak to is that Guernsey is getting a reputation in building, because of the service providers here, and delivering services quicker, more efficiently and more cost effectively than our European counterparts.”
He is spending 120 days annually in the US, much more than was traditional for Guernsey Finance, having up to 250 meetings a year there and bringing over 250 introductions.
“This year I’m looking to leverage on the connection between the US and London. Many of the intermediaries that I see transfer the information that I tell them to their London counterparts and what I’m going to focus on is making sure that when those enquiries come into the portal of London, they’re directed and carried on through to this jurisdictions, rather than any other jurisdictions getting a sniff.”
Mr Gamble is also looking to “follow the money” in the best possible way.
“Let’s take the private world space, you’re not only going to the intermediaries, you’re going directly to the single family offices.”
There is also a plan in place to enhance the use of data to help identify more intermediaries in the US to reach out to.
Business development involved getting meetings and building trust, he said.
“How do you build trust? And that requires you, the practitioner, to come to the US with me and join me in the discussions. They want to speak to the technical experts who they’re going to introduce their clients to, they want to know without certainty you can access service delivery in the time allowed at the price point that you’ve all agreed.”
He was keen to collaborate with Guernsey businesses.
“We’re all ambassadors for Guernsey. Really, we ought to all be out there promoting the same sorts of messages, which for me certainly it’s not only that we’re the premier jurisdiction in all of the services that we provide, but also, we’re first amongst equals.”
Guernsey Finance’s South Africa Business Development Representative Grant McLeod spoke about the latest cross border private wealth opportunity for trust firms.
There is a new dispensation to allow distributions from South African Trusts to offshore trusts.
“You could basically move an unlimited amount of money, which is very exciting, because we’ve got a lot of farmers, particularly in the rural areas, who have had money tied up in local trust for many, many years. And there’s definitely an opportunity now to move that money offshore.”
The promotional body’s Middle East Business Development Representative Aaron Russell-Davison said that the Saudi Vision 2030 program was being pursued and acted upon at a blistering pace.
“It’s accelerating. I think they will get very substantially towards their targets by the designated 2030, timeframe,” he said
“But maturity is something I’ve noticed. Some of the vanity projects, some of the grandiose ideas, have been quietly scaled back or deprioritized, the focus now is what brings wealth to the Kingdom faster? So what will provide an economic and enterprise value rapidly? What improves the life of people in the Kingdom rapidly, and also around the regulatory frameworks required to support this growth.
“And I think the regulatory aspect is one angle where contribution from Guernsey industry can help tremendously. It’s at a stage where systems and processes and frameworks are being developed, and those who embrace that and get involved in it at an early stage have an opportunity to shape the outcome. I think that’s where Guernsey needs to be. Thinking about Saudi Arabia, now is the time to build those relationships and be part of the process, rather than waiting for it to be done and then accepting whatever is on the table.”
