Making Jersey’s supportive role to London’s financial centre clear

Making Jersey’s supportive role to London’s financial centre clear

A growing number of fund managers in the UK are choosing Jersey as their partner to help market their funds to investors based in the EU.

Though we may seem worlds apart from the hustle and bustle of London, Jersey does, in fact, have a very positive and interdependent relationship with the UK, particularly in relation to the finance industry.

With Brexit under a year away now, many may be questioning what the future holds for the UK in terms of trade, finance, and international relations. The recent results of a survey carried out by a trade body in the UK, the CFA Institute, for instance, found that just 17% of its membership believe that any post-Brexit trade deal with the EU will result in a comprehensive trade deal covering both goods and services.

This is where we, Jersey’s finance industry, come in.

Our research (‘Jersey’s Value to Britain’, 2016) showed that Jersey helps channel £0.5 trillion of overseas investment into the UK each year to help fund the construction and development of offices, homes, roads, airports, schools and hospitals. And we know that when the UK does well, Jersey does well too.

Post-Brexit, Jersey can continue to be a vital element in helping the UK fulfil its future global ambitions.

For example, after March next year, it will be much more difficult for UK-based fund managers to sell their funds into the EU. As a result, a growing number of fund managers in the UK are choosing Jersey as their partner to help them market their funds to investors based in the EU. The number of funds doing that grew 17% at the end of last year, showing that what Jersey does is clearly working well, helping fund managers to continue to operate uninterrupted and generate better returns for their investors.

The flip side to this is equally true. Jersey is also working with fund managers in the EU to help them market their funds into London, still by some way the largest investor market in Europe. Without Jersey’s support, doing that will be much more difficult post-Brexit.

Over the coming months, the noise around Brexit is undoubtedly going to increase and it is vital that we continue to communicate and explain Jersey’s role to the UK and wider global financial network. By telling our story, we are able to provide clarity around how Jersey can work with partners in the UK (and EU) to play a supportive role and help build a positive and more certain future.

London remains the world’s pre-eminent financial centre for international financial services, and as part of our communication efforts, this week we are hosting our flagship funds and private wealth conferences there.

The events are vital for a number of reasons – not only do they give us an opportunity to talk and listen to around 1,000 of the most important financial services figures in London itself, but those attending are also working in a truly dynamic globally-focussed centre and can prove to be fantastic advocates for Jersey in key overseas markets too. Given that more than half of Jersey’s business now comes from outside Europe, these connections are incredibly valuable.

Our two conferences this year, including our funds conference on 24 April (‘A Future Focus’) and our private wealth-focused conference on 25 April (‘An Open World’) feature an impressive line-up of speakers, including former Head of MI5, Lord Jonathan Evans, and world-leading artificial intelligence commentator, Professor Nick Bostrom.

By hosting such leading thinkers in the financial and digital spaces, we can clearly position Jersey as a cutting-edge, forward-thinking jurisdiction, ready to support the UK as it moves forward into a new era – and generate some healthy discussion in the process too.

Whilst this is undoubtedly a period of fundamental change for the UK and its international partners, we are certain that right now there is a fantastic opportunity to differentiate Jersey as a finance centre, and our conferences in London provide an excellent platform to do just that.

You can follow our events this week on Twitter at #jflfunds and #jflprivatewealth.

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