As offshore jurisdictions compete to attract wealth and business from high net worth clients in Asia, Guernsey announces it is creating a representative office in Hong Kong.

Guernsey Finance is opening a representative office in Hong Kong in the first quarter of next year, signalling the European jurisdiction’s determination to win more business in the Asia-Pacific region and pitting it against offshore centres such as the British Virgin Islands and Jersey.

The office will be the promotional agency’s second overseas outpost, in addition to its Shanghai office which opened in 2008, Guernsey Finance, which is a promotional agency for Guernsey, said in a statement today.

Guernsey Finance China Representative, Wendy Weng, who is based in Shanghai, will use the office as base and also focus on developing business in Southeast Asia. The office will also be used by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

The office is in Three Pacific Place in Admiralty, Hong Kong.

John Dunford, the GFSC’s current Deputy Director for Authorisations, will relocate to the region at the start of next year to act as the regulator’s representative in Hong Kong, Guernsey Finance said.

Jersey, the rival Channel Island jurisdiction to Guernsey, already has a representative office in Shanghai and Hong Kong; Locate Jersey, which acts for persons seeking to live in that island, has an office in Beijing.