Guernsey Continues Promotional Efforts In Asia
Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the island's financial services industry, has announced scheduled trips to promote the island in the Singapore and Hong Kong markets in November.

The Guernsey team will be led by Carla McNulty Bauer, the island's Minister for Commerce and Employment; Jarrod Cowley-Grimmond, Director of the government's Finance Sector Development Unit; and Peter Niven, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance.

Their itinerary will include a series of meetings with politicians, regulators, stock exchange officials and financial services practitioners in the two centres.

Niven said: “We have made huge strides in recent years to raise the profile of Guernsey in the Far East. This work has come to fruition in a variety of ways, including increased recognition at the political, regulatory and stock exchange levels but also the number of local firms which are now establishing offices in the region. These are very positive developments in terms of attracting business flows to the island but we need to make sure that we capitalise on the opportunities and this visit is central to achieving those aims.”

He added: “It is important that we build on the relationships we have developed with the appropriate officials to ensure that our industry has access to the widest number of markets possible. At the same time, we also need to make sure that the progress we are making is recognised by the financial services practitioners in centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong, enabling our finance industry to supplement business streams from the traditional UK and European markets with flows from these emerging economies.”

The delegation will be in Singapore during the week commencing October 31. Meetings with regulators, stock exchange officials and business leaders will be supplemented with attendance at the private wealth management conference, STEP Asia, where the Guernsey stand will include representation from Guernsey Finance, the Guernsey government and island firms Mourant Ozannes, Ogier, Collas Crill and Carey Group.

The core of the team will then head to Hong Kong where there will be a seminar on November 7 highlighting the fact that earlier this year Guernsey companies were given the green light to list on the HKEx. This event will be hosted by McNulty Bauer and also speaking will be Paul Christopher, partner of the new Hong Kong office of Guernsey law firm Mourant Ozannes. The seminar will show local Hong Kong finance professionals the advantages of using a Guernsey company to access capital markets either in the UK and Europe or Hong Kong.

A group of Guernsey professionals will then attend the private equity and venture capital conference, AVCJ Hong Kong.

Separately, Guernsey Finance is hosting a set of briefing sessions for local industry practitioners so that they can learn about doing better business in China. They will be presented by three off-island speakers with significant experience of working in these markets and will take place on October 25.