Jersey Finance: Statement in response to the Tax Justice Network’s 'Financial Secrecy Index'

Geoff Cook, CEO of Jersey Finance Limited, said: “The ‘Financial Secrecy Index’ is simply lobbying disguised as research. The report is presented as though it is based on accepted international standards. The reality is that it is a selective interpretation of subjective information designed to further the Tax Justice Network’s specific agenda. Jersey’s ranking in the Index is nonsensical. Jersey is one of the safest and best regulated international finance centres, as demonstrated by credible, independent assessments by internationally accepted organisations like the OECD and the IMF. The reality is that IFCs like Jersey are engines of economic growth and, particularly in these straitened times, make an important and positive contribution to the world’s economy.”

Examples that demonstrate Jersey’s levels of regulation and transparency include the following:

• Jersey has been independently assessed as compliant with more of the IMF Financial Action Taskforce’s general recommendations than, for example, the UK (44:36)
• Jersey is one of the only jurisdictions to be independently assessed as compliant with 15 out of 16 of the Financial Action Taskforce’s key recommendations
• It was among the first to be placed on the OECD ‘white list’ of jurisdictions – following an independent assessment of the island’s regulatory environment - and was invited to be Vice Chair of the OECD Peer Review Group