Jersey Finance head of market development Chris Jenkins tells Emily Moore which jurisdictions the organisation is targeting and why the Island has a strong message to deliver
SOUTH Africa, Kenya, America, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. At first glance, this may look like a list of contenders for someone considering their 2025 holiday plans.
But for Chris Jenkins, while it is likely that he will visit each of these destinations over the next 12 months, he will not be doing so to soak up their culture and assess their beaches, food offer or range of attractions.
Instead, as the head of market development at Jersey Finance explains, these locations, together with the UK, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and China, are the key jurisdictions on which the body will be focusing its efforts as it continues to promote and represent the Island on the global stage.
It is, as Chris acknowledges, a remit which is both “broad and focused” in its approach and ambitions.
“We have to follow a fine line between growth, balancing our resources and nurturing the business and relationships we’ve already got,” he said. “At one level, the remit is broad because Jersey’s offering is broad in terms of our pillars of offer. Our membership is equally broad, which makes it an interesting job for the people on the ground in our key markets, as they have to be able to talk eloquently across the whole spectrum, which includes funds, private wealth, trusts, family office and the professional services that the Island offers.
“But we also have to recognise that with a limited budget and only one person on the ground in most of those key markets, we cannot cover entire continents. We therefore have to be aware of what we can achieve, and focus is key to that. The US, for example, is a continent full of prosperous cities, wealth generators and businesses, so we have to focus even within that one market.”
Having worked primarily in fintech before joining Jersey Finance last April, Chris moved to the Island from Hong Kong around ten years ago.
“After selling my business, I started thinking about what came next,” he said. “In my previous role, I was responsible for a global team of people doing business development, which is largely what I do with Jersey Finance. Understanding different markets, different challenges and the issues faced by people working overseas, often alone, albeit with the support of the fantastic Jersey Finance team, is critical to the role.”
Equally critical to “selling Jersey”, and differentiating the Island from its many competitors, says Chris, is its infrastructure.
“This is our superpower, and the expertise provided by the people in our industry is recognised globally,” he said. “We are operating in a frighteningly competitive environment, with international finance centres popping up all over the place, but the amazing source of talent in Jersey is respected worldwide. Having said that, we cannot be complacent because several jurisdictions would love to have our business, which is why the collaboration between government, industry and the regulator is so important.”
Just as important, he adds, is the Island’s stability.
“We offer stability in an unstable world,” he reflected, “and given the geopolitical events taking place as we speak, that stability is going to become more important than ever. Combine that with our infrastructure and gold standard of regulation, something which was illustrated in the recent Moneyval report, and we have a very strong message to share.”
And one of the key markets where Chris and his team will be spreading this message is in America.
“America is a key focus area for us,” he said. “It’s an interesting market, with a lot of that interest driven by its size. We only need a small piece of the market to make a real difference to the Island. While historically, we have focused on the funds space in America, we are also keen to investigate opportunities in the private-wealth space. While this may be less obvious because of the way that US citizens are taxed, there is tremendous opportunity to attract residents who want to have some assets offshore.
“There is a tremendous sense of excitement about the opportunities in America, and it will be interesting to see how we can capitalise on the potential offered by the incoming president’s playbook by promoting a sector which Jersey does brilliantly, but which it hasn’t previously promoted in the US.”
And with the ink on last year’s Moneyval report still relatively fresh, Chris says that the “fantastic result” puts the Island in a strong position to highlight its offer both in America and in its other key markets.
“The Moneyval result reflected the amount of work put in by the government, industry and regulators,” he said. “It also sets out our stall, showing exactly what we want to be and what we offer as a jurisdiction. While we have set the bar, no doubt other jurisdictions will catch up, but we now have an opportunity to explain what Jersey, as an international finance centre, is all about, and to demonstrate the business that we want and can support.
“From a commercial perspective, there is always a sense of urgency when it comes to attracting new business, but having just received this report, this is definitely the time for Jersey to accelerate its growth in the IFC space and we’re really trying to capitalise on that.
“The stability and regulatory high bar demonstrated in the report will go down very well in the US but it is also really important for jurisdictions such as the Middle East, which enjoys the reputational benefit of working with a jurisdiction with such a high standard. We are already the jurisdiction of choice in the GCC, which is not something we take lightly.
“We have to make sure that we nurture, manage and grow again in markets such as Saudi Arabia, where there is a huge opportunity for the Island, particularly in the family office and private-wealth sectors. The number of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the Middle East, Far East and America in particular is exploding, and this offers tremendous potential for the Island.”
Indeed, the Moneyval report, says Chris, shows that Jersey is “at the top of the tree” and “open for business”.
“Ease of doing business in the right way is key when people are deciding where to place assets or structure vehicles,” he said. “A lot of jurisdictions encourage people to go to them, saying it is very easy to do business there but the reason it is easy is because they are not doing things in the right way.
“There is a path which allows you to be open for business but still have the right level of regulation, which allows you to operate internationally.
“A good example of this has been Jersey’s approach to tokenisation, which has the potential to be a very big part of the funds industry.
“Thanks to the government, industry and regulators working together, Jersey has set out a clear way of regulating this area and a clear way of explaining what is required in a way that other jurisdictions haven’t yet managed to do. This exemplifies our approach, as we want the Island to be a jurisdiction where businesses can come in and operate easily using our financial-services providers in a clean, well-regulated and well-run manner.
“And that is really the message that we take around the world to our key markets, with the goal of benefiting not just the financial-services firms in Jersey but the Island as a whole. When we go around the world, talking about the Island, we are reinforcing the message that Jersey is a good place to do business. International finance centres generally operate to high standards and we operate to the highest level of those standards.”
