HIGH-LEVEL talks, with the government’s chief executive among those participating, have taken place around the prospect of setting up a state-owned bank in Jersey.
The notion that the Island could establish a publicly-owned bank, operating at arm’s length from government, has gathered weight after being put forward in the JEP by a former politician and subsequently picked up by a current States Member, who has included it as something she hopes to progress if she is re-elected to the States in this summer’s election.
Deputy Catherine Curtis, who forged a successful career in business prior to being elected as Reform Jersey representative for St Helier Central in 2022, convened a recent meeting with the Island’s chief executive Dr Andrew McLaughlin.
Prior to taking up his government role, Dr McLaughlin spent two decades working in the banking sector and currently holds a part-time, non-executive role as chairman of Gibraltar International Bank, an institution cited as an example of how Jersey could proceed.
Also involved in the meeting were investment manager Ben Shenton, a former Senator who until recently wrote regularly for the JEP, and Martyn Scriven, a consultant with a background in the banking sector who is also Deputy Curtis’s partner.
Mr Shenton’s contribution to a series of “Big Idea” articles published in recent weeks was cited as the trigger to try and progress the matter by Deputy Curtis.
“I’ve been interested in the concept for some time, and this [article] motivated me to get a meeting organised,” she said. “It’s at a very early stage, but it’s something I’d like to take forward if I am re-elected in June.
“As well as increasing revenues, I think it would be very good for Jersey’s security and could offer a lot of opportunities for Jersey residents through savings accounts, mortgages or other services.”
She added: “It was very good to have Andrew McLaughlin’s involvement – he has real knowledge about how banks work and I believe we are very well-placed to try and do something.”
In his initial article, Mr Shenton described how Gibraltar has acted to head off a potential crisis when Barclays confirmed that it would pull out of the British Overseas Territory, leaving NatWest as the only major high-street bank.
“Instead of wringing its hands, Gibraltar’s government took decisive action: it built its own bank,” he wrote. “The Gibraltar International Bank is government-owned but professionally run and independently governed – it is commercial, competitive and, importantly, profitable.
“It has filled market gaps, restored competition, supported local businesses, and delivered financial inclusion, while generating revenue for the taxpayer.”
Given the relatively small population of Gibraltar – just under 38,000 at the time of the 2022 census – Mr Shenton argued that the concept should be feasible for Jersey, with almost three times as many residents and a more sophisticated finance sector.
At an event in May 2025 to mark ten years since the founding of the Gibraltar International Bank, the territory’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said that “owning the bank has given this community a firepower that we never had before, and also given us a firepower beyond our shores, truly becoming an international bank”.
Since the meeting, Deputy Curtis said she had raised the concept with Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham and External Relations Minister Ian Gorst, and that she had also discussed it with Housing Minister Sam Mézec, leader of Reform Jersey.
“We are working on our [party] election manifesto for the upcoming election and this idea is one likely to feature in it because of the potential benefits to Jersey and our economy,” she said.
Gibraltar International Bank
- The idea of the British Overseas Territory establishing its own bank was first floated in the mid 1990s.
- News that Barclays was set to pull out of Gibraltar in the wake of the 2008/09 global financial crisis gave new impetus to the idea, leading to the founding of the Gibraltar International Bank in 2013.
- In April 2015 the GIB, with an initial staff of 52, opened its doors to customers.
- In spite of turbulent economic conditions, including Brexit and the Covid pandemic, the GIB grew and reported an underlying profit before tax of £8.9 million in the most recently-published accounts, with the workforce having expanded to 134.
- The GIB’s 2023 annual report stated that the bank had around £450m in personal banking loans, including residential mortgages totalling £254m, with almost 17,000 customers and deposits of £341m.
- Also in 2023, the bank’s corporate arm held £860m in deposits and 2,800 accounts, with total lending of just under £700m.
- Dr Andrew McLaughlin was appointed as the chairman of the GIB board in September 2024.
