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Jersey holds '200 times more Russian assets than Guernsey'

Jersey holds '200 times more Russian assets than Guernsey'

Monday 16 May 2022

Jersey holds '200 times more Russian assets than Guernsey'

Monday 16 May 2022


Guernsey's government says the island has tracked down and frozen just £5m in Russian assets in response to the invasion of Ukraine, while Jersey firms have frozen £1bn.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both Jersey and Guernsey imposed a sanctions regime in line with that of the UK.

At the end of March, Jersey firms had frozen assets worth around £700m.

By the end of April, that figure had topped £1bn, with a total of 140 reports submitted to the External Relations Minister.

Express had repeatedly asked the States of Guernsey for an update on its asset freezing regime, but did not receive a response.

However, on Friday, the island’s leading Policy and Resource Committee released a statement indicating how much had been frozen as of 12 May - a figure 200 times less than the one provided by Jersey so far.

“The assets held within Bailiwick bank accounts on behalf of a sanctioned person that have been frozen as part of the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amount to less than £5 million,” said P&R.

The statement continued: “Since introducing these sanctions, the Policy and Resources Committee has received and continues to receive a wide range of responses from the private sector, covering a range of issues with some relating to assets within the Bailiwick and others being general queries where the sanctions regime was not ultimately engaged.

“The notifications received show a desire from the private sector in the Bailiwick to do the right thing and to not only comply with the regime, but to go beyond, seeking to avoid the risk of exposure to any sanctions issue.”

The Committee did not state whether they would be committing to monthly sanctions updates, like Jersey.

On Wednesday last week, Jersey's financial regulator issued a reminder to local firms to be wary when taking on new clients with links to Russia and Belarus.

"We are aware that the vast majority of supervised persons have taken account of the risk statement. However, we wish to remind supervised persons of the risk statement, and to stress that it may not be possible to adequately mitigate the risk of sanctions evasion when considering a new business relationship, including those seeking to be transferred from other service providers," the Jersey Financial Services Commission said.

It added: "...if the answer to any of the following questions is yes, or is in doubt, we would not expect such new business to be taken on:

  • Is the underlying rationale for the new business driven by the imposition of non-Jersey sanctions measures?
  • Is the underlying rationale for the new business driven by a desire to avoid or evade potential future sanctions measures?
  • Is the underlying rationale for the new business driven by an intent to avoid scrutiny by law enforcement agencies anywhere in the world?"

READ MORE...

Russian assets frozen by Jersey firms top £1bn

Jersey firms froze £700m in Russian assets in March

Jersey seizes '$7bn assets' suspected to be linked to Abramovich

Abramovich yacht 'moved to Jersey company on day of Ukraine invasion'

Police and regulator work to track down Russian wealth

Abramovich: Too "risky" for Switzerland... but not for Jersey?


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