THE government will explore the setting up of a third-party appeals process for those threatened with sanctions by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, the Island’s financial services regulator, following an investigation by the Jersey Evening Post.
External Relations Minister Ian Gorst also told the JEP that he was “not opposed” to the JFSC being added to the list of organisations that are subject to the Freedom of Information Law, giving the public the right to demand information from the regulator for the first time.
Both initiatives have formed part of a JEP campaign that follows a wide-ranging investigation that included allegations of bullying and misuse of power by the JFSC’s enforcement division, as well as highlighting concerns about a lack of transparency and accountability at the regulator, described by critics as “a law unto themselves”.
Deputy Gorst said that the lack of an appeals process to JFSC decisions besides recourse to the Royal Court, which is beyond the means of many Islanders, would be added to the remit of the ongoing Strategic Review of Jersey’s Regulatory Environment, due to be published in 2025.
“You have brought [forward] the need to revisit the enforcement processes,” he said of the JEP reporting on the issue.
“[We will] look at other jurisdictions that do have appeals processes, which I think we can learn from, we’ll want to see how successful they are.
“I think that we look back in hindsight and think it might have helped those individuals who feel that their lives […] have been blighted and ruined by enforcement action. If they had another course of action outside of the Royal Court, that might have gone some way to helping [them].”
On the question of the JFSC being added to the list of organisations that are subject to FOI, he said that he “was not opposed” to it, although historically he had been against it due to the lack of proper safeguarding for commercially sensitive activity.
“But I think if we could deal with that, then that will take away a lot of the opposition for having FOI extended to those bodies – [and] that would be a good thing,” he said.
Deputy Gorst cautioned, however, that there would be a cost associated with it that would be passed on to those who pay for the JFSC, namely businesses regulated by them.
More generally, Deputy Gorst said that he wanted the regulator to return to being “a regulator that can help advise and understand firms and help us be more competitive”.
“I am working with the regulator to make sure that we move forward. I see it very much as hand-in-hand work, and that they and I are in it together,” he said.
Deputy Ian Gorst was the subject of this week’s Saturday Interview.
