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In challenging times, ‘obsession’ does not do justice to our finance leaders
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From Nick Kershaw.
THE comments of Richard Syvret, the former head of the Jersey Financial Services Commission, that ‘the Island is obsessed by finance and the pursuit of wealth’ have been widely reported.
As the chief executive of a local business employing over 500 people with a substantial interest in finance, I see it very differently.
We are now in the fifth year of a global recession, the economy in Jersey has shrunk over the last four years by 15% and the finance industry has shrunk with it. Nearly 1,000 jobs have been lost locally in the banking industry and there are close to 2,000 people unemployed, many long-term.
I know and work with many people at all levels involved in finance and sectors supported by finance, and the people I know are not obsessed by either finance or the pursuit of wealth.
What I find at the senior management level are people who are ambitious and driven, not by the pursuit of wealth, but by a desire to create and sustain thriving local businesses, attracting high-quality clients and providing much needed long-term employment and rewarding careers for local people.
What I find below senior management are people, again not driven by the pursuit of wealth, but driven by a simple desire to provide a decent living and future for themselves and their families, and to work hard to hold onto and succeed in their jobs in a difficult and challenging employment market. I also know people in the States and again I don’t find people obsessed by finance or the pursuit of wealth.
In our Chief Minister – who I believe, like Mr Syvret, has a strong Christian faith – the only ‘obsession’ I see is an obsession with the creation of much needed employment.
In our Economic Development Minister I see, not an obsession with finance, but on the contrary a strong and active desire to diversify our economy away from finance, something that those involved in finance would, I am sure, wholeheartedly support.
I believe that Mr Syvret retired in the mid-1990s and perhaps his characterisation of the Island might have been a truer reflection then.
In the challenging times of 2012, it does not do justice to those who lead the Island, or work hard to try and ensure that current and future generations will be able to enjoy the same quality of life and security of retirement as people have enjoyed over the last 30 years.
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