Guernsey's foundations legislation now in force

The Guernsey foundations law came into effect today.

The legislation, which was approved by the Privy Council in mid-December and registered in Guernsey's Royal Court yesterday, is now in force and the Guernsey Registry will be accepting applications from tomorrow [9 January].

Fiona Le Poidevin, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, said: "It's extremely pleasing to see that Guernsey's foundations legislation has been approved and the law has now come into force. Commencement of the law allows our fiduciary professionals to consider the use of a foundation as well as a trust when adopting wealth structures for their clients. Foundations may be particularly attractive to those based in civil law jurisdictions in Europe and further afield in the emerging markets of China, Russia and Latin America where the foundation concept is more familiar.

"We've been hearing from a number of industry practitioners over the past few months that there has been a great deal of interest in the Guernsey foundation. As well as clients looking to set up a foundation, much interest has come from clients who have foundations currently domiciled in other jurisdictions and are looking to migrate these to Guernsey.

"We believe Guernsey's expertise in servicing private clients means that we are especially well placed to administer complex structures due to the heritage we have in providing trust and corporate services as well as, of course, our reputation for being a well regulated and transparent international finance centre."

Guernsey Finance held a launch event for the new law at the British Museum in London back in September. The event was attended by 120 delegates, including some of the leading legal and tax advisers from the City's private client industry.

"The London event was very well attended and demonstrated the interest the wider industry has in Guernsey launching its own foundations legislation. They recognise that Guernsey was one of the first jurisdictions to introduce trust law and that we have now used that expertise and experience in private wealth to introduce our own foundations law,' said Miss Le Poidevin.