More than 100 members of the private client industry attended a briefing on the new Guernsey foundations legislation yesterday evening in London.
The law, which has already been agreed by the Island's Government, the States of Guernsey, is currently awaiting final ratification by the UK's Privy Council.
The event was hosted by Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Island's finance industry internationally.
Fiona Le Poidevin, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, said: "It was very pleasing to see such a strong turnout and I think this reflects the significant level of interest in the new Guernsey Foundations Law. Indeed, there was a very good debate about the relative merits of foundations compared to trusts as structures for meeting the particular needs of private clients, as well as the nuances of the provisions within the foundations legislation of different jurisdictions."
The event was attended by 120 delegates, including the leading legal and tax advisers from London's private client industry.
Panellists for the event were Richard Pease of Lenz & Staehelin, Elizabeth Henson from PwC and Gavin Ferguson of Appleby, while Filippo Noseda of Withers gave his thoughts on the new law via a pre-recorded video commentary. Russell Clark of Carey Olsen moderated the session.
Miss Le Poidevin added: "The debate was given extra impetus by the fact that the panellists were not just from Guernsey or for that matter, the UK but also Switzerland. Richard and also Filippo have extensive experience of working with both the common law concept of trusts and the civil law concept of foundations. This means that they are very well placed to compare and contrast both trusts and foundations, as well as discuss how the new Guernsey foundations legislation compares to existing law in other jurisdictions."
The seminar, titled Guernsey - The Foundations Alternative, took place from 4pm on Tuesday 18 September in the Stevenson Theatre at the British Museum, Great Russell Street. Carey Group sponsored registration and coffee and the post-event drinks reception was sponsored by Appleby. The event was also supported by eprivateclient, Trusts & Trustees and thewealthnet as media partners.
One of the delegates, Raj Patel, Solicitor from Berkeley Law, said: "There was a clear reference to what makes Guernsey foundations special as opposed to other foundations and trust structures, which is often the question we get asked. We are getting some inquiries from mainland Europe and there is a chance we will be using foundations more. Guernsey is already my jurisdiction of choice in the Channel Islands for trusts."
Miss Le Poidevin added: "Guernsey has a very strong heritage in providing trust and corporate services. Now we are adding another item to the menu of options which practitioners in Guernsey can use to best meet the needs of their clients. We expect Guernsey foundations will be particularly attractive to clients in civil law jurisdictions of not just Europe but also further afield in terms of the 'emerging' markets of Asia, in particular China, Russia and Latin America."
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