Regulator plans tougher focus on financial crime

Friday 21 February 2020

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has committed to making "significant enhancements" to its operations and systems to become better at fighting financial crime.

According to the regulator's 'Strategic Roadmap for 2020-2023' and its business plan for the year ahead, it will also be transforming the Companies Registry, building new systems and digitising services to improve customer experience.

Among the measures the JFSC said it will be taking are increasing the number of financial crime compliance focused examinations, identifying and proposing solutions for gaps in Jersey’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism regime, and exploring the appropriate regulatory regime for non-profit organisations, money or value transfer services, and virtual asset service providers alongside government.

Pictured: Martin Moloney, JFSC Director General.

“We are undertaking an ambitious programme of work to ensure we become even more effective at what we do," Martin Moloney, JFSC Director General, said. 

"We have already laid strong foundations, but our environment is increasingly uncertain, complex and exposed to technical innovation. We know that we cannot serve the Island and the finance industry by standing still. At a time when the majority of Jersey’s finance industry is enjoying a sustained period of prosperity, there has never been a better or more necessary time for us to focus and invest in our future.”

The JFSC announced they will be raising raise their fees by 14% from £19.55milion in 2019 to £22.32million. This "significant increase", they said, is driven by "resourcing our largest ever capital investment programme and further developing our capability to combat the financial crime threat".

Pictured: John Eatwell will be retiring from his Chairman's role in April.

John Eatwell, the JFSC Chairman who will retire in April, said he was encouraged by the JFSC’s "clear vision and strategic priorities".

"It is imperative that we invest in our regulatory and registry infrastructures for the next decade to ensure the quality of our regulation and our registry capabilities continues," he said. "This is, after all, intrinsically linked to Jersey’s reputation as a first-class finance centre. We must therefore continue to meet international standards in regulation as a priority and ensure the Island’s success in the MONEYVAL assessment.”