Geoff Cook, the organisation’s chief executive, said that globally banks were cutting costs, but that other areas of the finance industry continued to grow.
His comments followed the announcement on Tuesday that 23 jobs were at risk following the closure of RBSI and NatWest International’s international wealth management business.
However, Mr Cook also explained that plans were under way to offer retraining for bank staff to enable them to transfer to growth areas such as fund administration.
On Tuesday RBS International said it had decided to close its international wealth management business following a strategic review of its operation conducted over the last four months.
Up to 23 jobs are at risk in Jersey – 19 within the international wealth management operation and four within the group’s technology services team – with a further ten jobs under threat in Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.
An RBS International spokesman said: ‘The changes we are making will inevitably have an impact on jobs. This is clearly difficult news for our colleagues and we will do everything we can to support them throughout the process.’
The company added that their action was in line with local competitors who had also withdrawn from the market.
Mr Cook, who praised RBS International for its commitment to the Channel Islands, said that the announcement followed a wider trend within the banking industry.
He added: ‘We will see a gradual slimming of the banking industry.
‘It will be a pattern with a number of banks over the coming years as they are being asked to make contributions that will help with cost savings.
‘We’ve been in this position before and will be in it again.
‘With the exception of banking, which is what I would say is being trimmed, most other forms of finance are growing in employment terms. And in some areas we are seeing a skills shortage. We’ve currently not got enough fund administrators and there is also a shortage of chartered accountants.
‘If you look at the finance sector as having four main areas – banking, private wealth, funds and capital markets – three of four of those are growing both in terms of business volume and employment.’
Mr Cook explained that Jersey Finance was also part way through a project to develop a retraining service aimed at bank staff who lost their jobs.
He said: ‘We are hoping that we can take those skills and redirect them into parallel-type activities and we think that will help us with our skills shortage.
‘There is a special projects team that has been working on this for a couple of months and we hope to bring a proposition to the financial services advisory board in May.’
In January, it was reported that jobs were expected to be lost in Jersey’s finance sector over the coming year – driven mainly by a decline in the struggling banking sector, according to a survey of businesses.
In the survey, companies were asked for their expectations of staff numbers by the end of 2015 and 42 per cent of those which responded said they expected employment to decrease.
Around one-fifth of companies expected no change in employment numbers and 36 per cent an increase.
In the banking sector 60 per cent of businesses said they expected the number of jobs to reduce.
The figures, published as part of the latest Business Tendency Survey, appeared to contradict comments made by Jersey Finance chief executive Geoff Cook at the organisation’s annual review the day before.
He said that employment levels in the Island’s finance industry were rising and could exceed pre-global financial crash levels in the ‘next couple of years’. Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham said that he was still confident about employment opportunities across all sectors, despite the survey results. He also urged caution when considering the figures, as they are only a snapshot of three months of the year.
‘I am optimistic, I am confident that we are going to see growth in employment opportunities throughout the economy,’ he said.
‘And I am really confident and optimistic that our economy is going to continue its recovery.’
He added: ‘This survey highlights that we are in a fragile economic climate and the road to economic recovery is going to have to be handled very carefully. That really underlines why we are absolutely right to have economic growth and jobs as one of our four key strategic objectives.’
Meanwhile the survey, a quarterly survey completed by businesses from a range of sectors, showed that while Jersey’s finance industry had a mixed end to 2014, profits are widely expected to improve this year.
At the end of December trade in the finance industry increased, but at its lowest level for 18 months. The increase in business activity for the sector was also down compared to the three months before and was at its lowest level since June 2013.
Optimism in the sector, while still positive, was also significantly lower than a year ago. However, of those who responded to the survey more than half of companies said they expected profits to increase this year.
Mr Cook added, in a letter to the JEP: ‘Our members tell us that they are very busy on funds-related activity, they are experiencing good flows on private wealth structuring and there is a stable outlook for capital markets.
‘The global banking sector is still experiencing some downside as it emerges from the financial crisis and of course the Island will not be immune to the transition taking place at an international level.
