Future deputies urged to back Guernsey Finance
THE agency promoting Guernsey’s finance industry should get a funding boost to help compete against competitors such as Jersey and Luxembourg, prospective deputies have been advised.
Tony Mancini, chairman of the Guernsey International Business Association, said Guernsey Finance had done an effective job but could do even more with additional funding in the face of much higher spending by competitors.
Speaking ahead of the island’s election for deputies, Mr Mancini – who is a director of Guernsey Finance as part of his Giba role – also stressed the importance of incoming deputies supporting the finance sector.
About 50% of Guernsey’s economy is based on the financial services firms and associated sectors, said Mr Mancini, with jobs, tax and wider societal benefits flowing from it. The industry could also be a force for good globally, which was another reason to support it.
‘We [Giba] believe that Guernsey Finance is underfunded compared to their competitor jurisdictions. If you look at Jersey Finance, I think its budget is four or five times ours. If you look at places like Luxembourg and Ireland, their budgets are just astronomical compared to ours,’ said the business group chief.
‘So much of the business we drive here comes from our reputation internationally. Guernsey Finance has a really important role to play in that. There are an awful lot of detractors out there who for their own political ends, and other ends, want to paint us in very negative terms. And we’re competing against other financial services centres.
‘If you look in that competitive landscape, Guernsey Finance is grossly underfunded. It really does need those resources to really compete competitively and on an even basis with the likes of Jersey Finance and Luxembourg,’ said Mr Mancini.
That was even more important when thinking about Guernsey’s ‘Revive and Thrive’ strategy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also vital to have a clear strategy as to what Guernsey Finance would do with spending any funding ‘efficiently’.
‘We’ve not going to go and target countries where we are never going to get any revenues from. It’s got to be spent cleverly,’ added Mr Mancini.
‘They’ve done a pretty good job on limited budgets to date. So with an increased budget we can really start to punch more about our weight than we ever have done to date.’
He also spoke more widely about the election and the importance of incoming deputies understanding the finance sector economically and its wider benefits. When in government, deputies would then have a ‘greater appreciation’ of what drove the economy and drove tax revenues to fund potential programmes and challenges ahead. There was also advice on how the next States would help the finance sector, including continuing the policy of ‘positive engagement with international bodies like the EU and OECD and continue to strive to meet those high international standards’.
‘That’s what’s helped us maintain ourselves as a premier financial services centre over the years. That’s what clients want from us. What we wouldn’t want to see is a change in policy, a change of direction, there.’
Growing the economy with ‘clever’ investment could also avoid increasing taxes to pay for any short to medium term borrowing to aid the economy recovery from the pandemic. On the corporate tax regime, Mr Mancini said there was limited scope to change the framework as it was already designed to meet international standards within a competitive environment. International bodies were also continuing to look at the issue, which meant it might need to be change anyway at some point.
n You can hear more of the interview on the Guernsey Press business editor’s podcast here: https://anchor.fm/william-green/episodes/Guernseys-election---the-view-from-business-ekg7j3.
