A delegation from Guernsey is heading to Asia to attend a major international fiduciary conference in Hong Kong before visiting both Shanghai and Beijing.
The trip comes just two weeks after a team returned from attending a private equity funds conference, SuperReturn Asia, in Hong Kong.
The delegation will be led again by Fiona Le Poidevin, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance - the international promotional agency for the Island's finance industry. She will be accompanied by her predecessor, Peter Niven, who remains a consultant at Guernsey Finance until the end of the year.
Miss Le Poidevin said: "Our visit to Hong Kong at the end of September was extremely useful in promoting Guernsey as an investment funds domicile and now we are going back to specifically promote the Island's expertise in providing services to private clients.
"Guernsey has a very strong heritage in using structures such as trusts and companies and of course, our new foundations legislation was approved locally at the end of July. This is now awaiting Royal Assent from the Privy Council, which is expected either late this year or early in 2013 but we have already held our launch event in London and we will also be promoting Guernsey Foundations heavily at STEP Asia in Hong Kong."
The delegation departs Guernsey for Hong Kong on Saturday 13th October and returns from Beijing to Guernsey on Wednesday 24th October. Guernsey Finance is one of the lead sponsors at the STEP Asia conference, which takes place on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th October at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong. Assisting on the stand will be Jarrod Cowley-Grimmond, Director of Finance Sector Development at the Commerce and Employment Department of the States of Guernsey.
The number of attendees with a connection to the Island totals nearly 20, with industry members assisting on the Guernsey Finance stand including representatives from Carey Olsen, Collas Crill, Confiance and Richmond Fiduciary Group and other Guernsey-based firms with representatives at the conference including Appleby, Louvre, Mourant Ozannes, Nerine and Ogier.
Guernsey Finance is hosting a breakfast seminar on the second day of the conference to promote Guernsey Foundations. Miss Le Poidevin will provide an introduction before Nick Jacob, Partner at Lawrence Graham in London, quizzes Mr Cowley-Grimmond and Konrad Friedlaender, Partner at Carey Olsen, on why Guernsey Foundations would be particularly attractive to Asian clients.
Miss Le Poidevin and Mr Niven will also be holding a series of meetings in Hong Kong, including with the Hong Kong Venture Capital Association and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, as well as financial trade media in the region.
They will then move on to China where they will be joined by John Robinson, Chairman of the Association of Guernsey Banks (AGB) and Managing Director of Butterfield Bank in Guernsey. They will be visiting political, regulatory and business leaders as well as with specific financial institutions in the cities, including several banking groups.
Miss Le Poidevin added: "It is vitally important that we are making regular visits to both Hong Kong and China. Many other jurisdictions are undertaking similar initiatives so we have to be prepared to put in the groundwork to make sure that Guernsey is foremost in the minds of key decision makers in the region. In this visit, we will be reinforcing existing relationships but also meeting with new contacts, especially in the banking sector.
"There is already a statement of cooperation between the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and the banking regulator in China and so we are ideally placed to push forward with the joint government and industry initiative to try and encourage banking groups originating in China to establish operations in Guernsey. However, there are significant opportunities across the fiduciary, funds and insurance sectors as well so we will be making sure that we are presenting the full range of what Guernsey has to offer during our series of meetings in Shanghai and Beijing."
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