Offshore
Conference Preview: Jersey To Stress Status As Innovator, Port In Geopolitical Storm
With all the unsettling changes of recent months, the European jurisdiction is keen to stress its stability. Jersey will be showcasing its status at a forthcoming London conference.
Geopolitical uncertainties such as around Brexit give Jersey and
its stability added appeal, while the jurisdiction is also
pushing ahead with innovations around trusts and philanthropy,
the organisation that bangs the drum for the island says.
Themes of political stability and innovation will be flagged up
at the annual Jersey Finance private wealth conference in London
on Tuesday 16 May. The event is being held at a time when the UK
is embarking on a general election, France is going to the polls
to choose a new president, and there are tensions around North
Korea and Syria. In uneasy times, a location with a stable
reputation can reap rewards, Geoff Cook, chief executive of
Jersey
Finance, told this news service.
“Some might say that this [focus on stability] is a bit dull but
in this world, such qualities take on a much stronger appeal,”
Cook, who has been CEO at Jersey Finance for 10 years, a period
spanning the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, said.
“If people have trusts, bank accounts or private wealth here in
Jersey, nothing much is going to change,” Cook
continued.
A second major plank of the conference will be around changes to
the jurisdiction’s trusts law, only the seventh set of amendments
to be enacted since the trusts law came into force in 1984 and
demonstrating how well-crafted the law has been, he said. The
amendments will clarify the reserve powers of settlors of trusts;
widen options for accumulation and distribution of income; and
extend indemnity provisions. Lawmakers will also consider
clarifying the wording covering the rights that beneficiaries
have to be informed about a trust (as in the case of young
children, etc), he said.
Additionally, the island is looking to enhance its charity law
and employing, for the first time, a charity commissioner who
will be responsible for determining which organisations are
charities, creating a register of them, and ensuring that they
meet their legal requirements, Cook added.
The conference will be held at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London.
For more details,
see here. This news service will be attending the
event.
(This item is repeated; originally published on 20 April.)