2014 will be a "challenging" year for finance, says regulator

Tuesday 28 January 2014

There is likely to be no increase in the number of financial institutions in Jersey this year and there may be a small reduction, according to the financial services regulator.

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has published its Business Plan for the year and says that it expects 2014 to be “challenging”. The commission has indicated that restrictions on new bank entrants to Jersey might be eased to attract more business and that they will move towards a civil penalty scheme this year, as well as revising codes of practice in all sectors.

Although politicians have been striking an upbeat note about Jersey's prospects in 2014, the commission have stuck to a more cautious tone.

The introduction to the plan by JFSC Deputy Chairman John Averty says: “Our plan assumes no increase in the number of banks, funds or trust companies operating in the Island over the year, nor any material change in their business activities. Some further small reduction may be seen in overall numbers of businesses as larger groups reduce the number of separate entities they manage.

“The shifting growth of private wealth from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and the Far East will continue to offer opportunities for Jersey’s wealth management sector, although it will require practitioners to develop further their risk assessment practice to deal comfortably with clients from new jurisdictions.

In the plan, the JFSC said that work to gain recognition for compliance with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) would continue throughout the year to gain a “passport” to mark that the Island had met the necessary regulatory standards. The plan also recorded that fee increases had been kept to a minimum, and that the budget for investigations and litigation in 2013 had been the highest level for some years because of two significant cases that had arisen.