Jersey: The Finance Sector
Jersey’s ’finance industry’ is a term used as a catch-all, as if it were one simple body, which it is not. Somehow, a circle had to be drawn around it, so it could be managed as a whole, and that was done by Jersey Finance. AP Group’s Chris Morvan spoke to the man at the helm: Geoff Cook.
The wind whistled off the sea, across the slowly developing Waterfront and directly at Geoff Cook’s eyrie on The Parade, at the top of Sir Walter Raleigh House, where he and his Jersey Finance colleagues had moved in only a couple of days earlier, having outgrown their previous premises. The picture he was to paint showed that times are anything but stormy for Jersey. But first, an introduction to the organisation.
Jersey Finance has grown from two people six years ago to a team of 10. Its current chief executive has been in the post one year, after having run the customer-facing side of HSBC International since his arrival in Jersey from his native Yorkshire in 2002.
’Jersey Finance was formed to bring some cohesion to the industry,’ he said. ’It’s a hybrid, a totally separate limited liability company with two States representatives on our board. We go around the world promoting Jersey and, because we are representing a small country and an entire industry, we can often open doors that individual firms can’t. For example, we recently went to the Far East and saw the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Investment Management Association and various other bodies. And we often do that with Martin De Forest-Brown, the director of international finance relations, which raises the whole substance of the contact. We put on seminars etc. and attend other events. Or we go and visit firms who don’t do business with Jersey and encourage them to think about it.’
Jersey Finance promotes itself like any business, keeping in touch with the media.
’Within the island we also try to engage with the community, principally through education work.’
A foundation degree in finance has been launched, which students can do at Highlands College, under the auspices of a UK university, with the option of ’topping it up’ to a full degree later.
To catch people even younger, Jersey Finance is part-sponsoring a GCSE-level qualification in finance.
’That’s about basic sound financial education, so it’s good for them in terms of life skills,’ Mr Cook pointed out. ’And when they make their choices for A levels, if they are interested in the finance industry, they will have a basis to work from.
’We have a full-time education and schools liaison person working here who moves between government, recruitment agencies and schools and colleges to make sure good information is available. We put careers teachers through a finance industry induction programme and introduce them to people in the industry who present on what they do.’
So does Jersey have a big enough pool of people to satisfy the industry’s requirements?
’Like all small islands we have supply-and-demand pressures, but I think we’re better off than most. An awful lot of Jersey youngsters go on to university – there’s a very high level of educational achievement here. I think I’ve heard that 40-50% of students come back to the island within 10 years. Many of our firms are now international – they’re not just here in Jersey. Law firms, for instance, have networks of offices around the world. And the States have allowed some immigration of skilled workers – on a controlled basis, but they are allowing it. So the combination of home-grown and imported talent is supplying our needs at the moment. The industry grew by several hundred jobs in 2006 and I expect 2007 to be about the same. In 2006 profits were up 21%. Obviously we don’t know the results for 2007 yet but certainly up to August/September it was absolutely fizzing along. The only area that’s been tempered slightly is the specialised securitisations work, where we create vehicles for institutions that want to take debt off balance sheet, securitise it, parcel it up and sell it on. The credit crunch has slowed that up, but I think it’s a global phenomenon rather than a Jersey one. In all other respects as I talk to the lawyers, the funds people, the bankers, the private clients people, the trust people, they’re all busy. You can’t see into the future but there is no sign that it won’t continue.’
With Guernsey recently having adopted Zero-10 and Jersey due to start in 2009, what effect did he expect that to have?
’We don’t see Zero-10 having any adverse impact on finance. We see it as making sure we’ve got a level playing field with other jurisdictions and we think we’ll move through it without any difficulty.’