A NEW history of the Island as a finance centre by the late Colin Powell has been published in hardback more than four years after the death of the man credited with being the architect of Jersey’s main industry and a key figure in the development of its international reputation.
For some years Mr Powell – who spent more than five decades advising the States on local and international financial affairs – had been working on the history but his death in May 2019 occurred before he could complete the book.
However, with his family’s permission, academic historian and Jersey lawyer John Kelleher stepped in to complete the work, which had been left in a well-developed form.
The book is called The History of Jersey as an International Finance Centre. It charts the extraordinary growth of the industry from its early beginnings in the 1960s, where the main focus was on banking with a customer base of wealthy UK residents and expats, to 2020, by which date the Island finds itself a leader in the field offering to the world a panoply of financial products and services from a sophisticated and well-regulated jurisdiction.
Mr Powell, who moved to the Island as a economist in 1969 with a first-class degree in economics from Jesus College Cambridge, had worked for the Northern Ireland government before becoming States economic adviser, and later an adviser to the government following the transition to the ministerial system in 2005.
From 1981 until October 2011, he chaired the Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors (formerly the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors), a body of 18 jurisdictions. In that capacity he attended meetings of the international Financial Action Task Force on combating money laundering and terrorism financing, and was co-leader of two FATF groups, one on the misuse of corporate vehicles and the other on the money-laundering vulnerabilities arising from the trafficking of human beings.
Mr Powell was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1995 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for services to financial regulation and to the community in Jersey.
His voluntary work included chairing the Jersey Child Care Trust from 2001 to 2012 and becoming an honorary member of the NSPCC Council. He was also awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Institute of Directors of Jersey.
Published in hardback, the 142-page book is priced at £25 but will be available until 1 December at the launch price of £20. Copies of The History of Jersey as an International Finance Centre are available by emailing: clarelegallais@hotmail.com.
