Independent Review of British Offshore Finance Centres - Jersey

Jersey’s Chief Minister has welcomed the findings of an interim report into British Offshore Finance Centres. In his progress report, Michael Foot explains how he intends to tackle his review of British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

He has set out the issues he wants to explore, which include:

• how centres are managing the effects of the economic downturn
• what opportunities are likely to arise as global markets recover
• whether more should be done to strengthen regulatory co-operation and the sharing of technical expertise, particularly between local regulators and the UK’s Financial Services Authority
• the mechanisms available for responding to major economic shocks
  the implementation of new international standards of regulation and information exchange

Jersey’s Chief Minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur, has said: “This report is a very constructive explanation of how Michael Foot’s review will be conducted. It confirms there will be continued collaboration with the UK government at a time of international uncertainty, and makes it clear that the constitutional position of the financial centres is not within its scope.”

“We have always been confident that Jersey’s position as a well-regulated finance centre which meets global standards of financial regulation and information exchange would be recognised internationally. We are delighted that the OECD confirmed this in a report published after the G20 summit earlier this month, which highlights Jersey as one of the jurisdictions that have substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard, alongside jurisdictions like the UK, USA, France and Germany.

“We will continue to work with the international community as the OECD and other global organisations develop frameworks for strengthening governance of the world economy.”