Jersey focus | 'The debate around transparency continues to evolve'
For more than 50 years, Jersey has been focused on offering private clients and their advisers a quality service, and that focus is undoubtedly working to Jersey's advantage today, says Geoff Cook
Jersey’s reputation, in particular, is rooted in its political and economic stability, sophisticated infrastructure of laws, network of specialist firms, and expertise. With more than 12,400 employees, Jersey’s financial services workforce is the largest of any European offshore centre.
Jersey’s trust law, established in 1984, has also become a model for others, and has allowed the island to firmly establish itself as a specialist centre for trusts, foundations and estate planning.
In 2013, it was calculated that about £1–2trn worth of assets are held in Jersey trusts and special purpose vehicles.
While its close and unique relationship with the City of London continues to appeal to private clients, Jersey is also active in reaching out to growth markets around the world.
Recent statistics continue to reinforce the trend for wealth to migrate east. The value of wealth held by high net worth (HNW) individuals in the Asia-Pacific region stood at US$12trn in 2012 (Capgemini World Wealth Report 2013), while HNW wealth increased in the Middle East by 8.6 per cent and in Africa by 11.5 per cent.
Jersey’s ability to demonstrate substance, expertise and a rational response to transparency is proving increasingly attractive in all these regions, supporting HNWIs with their family wealth planning and business activity.
For example, Jersey foundations, now in their fifth year, are proving particularly popular as part of wealth management strategies in Russia and the Middle and Far East, with about a third used for philanthropic activity.
In addition, the past couple of years have seen a steady climb in the number of family offices and family office service providers relocating to or expanding in Jersey, again largely driven by demand from markets in the Far East, Middle East and Africa.
The debate around transparency and information exchange continues to evolve, and has demanded a real focus for private client professionals in recent times.
The notion of transparency is here to stay and it is something that Jersey fully supports, providing it is done through the adoption of sensible workable global standards and a mature approach to balancing transparency with a legitimate right to an appropriate level of confidentiality.
Having introduced anti-tax evasion legislation in the ‘90s, Jersey has completed more than 40 tax agreements with countries worldwide, signed up to the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and an intergovernmental agreement with the UK, and is one of the early adopters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD) model for automatic information exchange.
UK prime minister David Cameron told parliament last year that is was no longer fair to refer to the overseas territories or Crown Dependencies as tax havens. Earlier this year, secretary general of the OECD, Ángel Gurría, highlighted Jersey’s efforts in tackling tax evasion, at a major conference in Brussels.
As advisers look to support their HNW clients responsibly as the world emerges from a volatile period, Jersey is extremely well placed to benefit from a flight
to quality.
Geoff Cook is CEO of Jersey Finance